Iran seeks ties to boost Nigeria’s power, air transportation sector

The Islamic Republic of Iran has disclosed plans to deepen its bilateral relationship with Nigeria through a new Iranian policy that will foster economic cooperation and trade development between both countries. Iranian Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr. Saeed Koozechi, who stated this on Thursday at a breakfast meeting on the 1st Solo Iran Exhibition in Nigeria, said his country was willing to expand business opportunities and promote its development capabilities in the fields of air transportations, power building and construction, oil and gas, pharmaceutical and manufacturing.
He hinted that the  exhibition, billed to hold in June, would help foster the new Iranian policy toward economic cooperation and trade development with the world, with priority to Africa, especially Nigeria.
Koozechi further hinted that this move would also ensure that Iranian government develops economic and trade relations, transfer of technology, and technical and engineering services.
According to him, the enormous capabilities of Iran shows that its economy is characterised by large hydrocarbon sector, 70,000MW electricity production, petro-chemical 60,000 ton capacity, production of 1.5 million cars yearly and reliant in building refineries and building of spare parts, in which they plan to build automobile spare parts assembly plants in Nigeria.
The Ambassador, who revealed that the trade volume and value of both countries is about $50 million, said that Iran was willing to partner with the private and public firms in Nigeria.
Speaking at the event, Executive Manager, International Conferences and Exhibition Research and Services Company for Iran, Mohamad Kani, lamented that both countries had very low volume of annual bilateral trade, but the solo exhibition would help expand trade between Nigeria and Iran.
Kani who stated that more than 40 companies would participate in the exhibition, said, “we have companies in the sector of sanitary products, building materials, auto industry, oil and petroleum, pharmaceutical, food and beverages, cement, energy, water, helicopter manufacturers, tyre producers, cookies and sweets producers.”
In his goodwill message, the Director-General of Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (NACCIMA), Mr. Emmanuel Cobham, stated that if both countries properly harnessed the opportunities that exist between them in sectors such as health, agriculture, power, and also considering their population, the volume of trade could easily increase to $500 million.
He also encouraged stakeholders to take advantage of the forthcoming solo exhibition for the advancement of their businesses, as there are a lot of partnerships and cooperations expected to come out of it.
The Chairman, Nigerian-Iran Business Council, Alhaja Toyibat Adeniji, affirmed that the exhibition would provide a forum for business collaboration between the two countries, thus actualising the goals of the D-8, which was established close to two decades ago to boost trade and development among its member-countries.