The volume of bilateral trade between Nigeria and Germany has dropped by 50% from 5.4 billion Euros in 2014 to 2.9 billion Euros in 2015, German Foreign Affairs Minister, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, has said.
The minister, however, said Nigeria remained Germany’s second most important economic partner in Sub Saharan Africa, noting that there was need to strengthen this development in the interest of both countries.
He said: “Both sides believe that open markets are the most important prerequisite for free and rules-based trade to everyone’s mutual advantage. That includes also security in general and safe maritime transportation.
“Nigeria and Germany agree that investment is crucial in order to boost prosperity, employment development and security, and to improve education.”
According to him, Germany welcomes Nigeria’s efforts to diversify her economy which also provides business opportunities for German companies. He said both countries saw potentials for more efforts to be made, especially in the infrastructure sector.
“To this end, the German government offers an Export Credit Guarantee Scheme as a means of providing support for German export transactions with private buyers in Nigeria,” he said.
Steinmeier added that the scheme offered investment guarantees for German investment in Nigeria.
