The Canadian Trade Commissioner to Nigeria, Temitayo Dada, has said Nigeria is Canada’s largest trading partner in Africa with $2.67bn in bilateral merchandise trade.
She disclosed this during the Canada-Nigeria Trade Mission’s Event 2022 Agenda organised by Africa Canada Trade and Investment Venture in Lagos.
Dada said, “Nigeria is undeniably a key strategic partner for Canada on the continent and promoting trade and relations between Canada and Nigeria is a priority of the Canadian government.
In 2021, Nigeria became Canada’s largest trading partner in Africa with $2.7bn in bilateral merchandise trade. That same year, Canadian merchandise imports from Nigeria amounted to $2.1bn, with Canada’s export to Nigeria totalling $605.4m.”
She added, “I am convinced that we have only touched the surface in terms of our trade potential and events like this can help grow the relationship. To date, Canada’s imports from Nigeria have included mineral fuels and oils, cocoa, rubber, and lead and our primary export to Nigeria are manufacturing equipment, wheat, aircraft, and cars.”
She further said, “The government of Canada is working with our Nigerian partners on the trade policy fronts to enhance market access and create a more enabling environment for business. We recently finalised negotiations on air transport agreement and hope to ratify it soon. This will make travel between Nigeria and Canada easier and strengthen people-to-people ties.”
According to her, technical discussions on establishing a foreign investment protection agreement have resumed, adding that this will increase the flow of investment between the two countries.
