President Muhammadu Buhari departed Paris, France on Saturday for another international event scheduled to take place in Durban, South Africa. President Buhari is expected to take part in the 2021 inauguration of the second Intra-African Trade Fair (IATF) based on a special invitation by the president of South Africa, Cyril Ramaphosa. This was disclosed in a statement signed by the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity and titled, ‘President Buhari Leaves Paris For Intra African Trade Fair in South Africa’.
The statement reads in part, “The event, holding from November 15 to November 21, is being convened by the African Export-Import Bank in collaboration with the African Union Commission and the African Continental Free Trade Area Secretariat.
“The theme of the Fair, Building Bridges for a Successful AfCFTA aims at boosting trade and investment across the African continent. It also promises to create the enabling environment for businesses to thrive across the African continent; bring to fruition the lofty ideas behind the creation of the AfCFTA by providing the platform to further identify and proffer solutions to challenges militating against intra-African trade and generate market information needed to connect buyers and sellers throughout the continent.
“Global businesses including non-African international brands are expected to key into opportunities generated by the fair, thereby attracting for the continent trade and investment deals worth $40billion. Various Nigerian investors are already in Durban to take advantage of the event.”
According to the statement, President Buhari will be accompanied by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama; Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment, Otunba Adebayo; Director-General, National Intelligence Agency (NIA), Ahmed Abubakar; and the Executive Director/Chief Executive Officer of Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC), Segun Awolowo.
President Buhari is expected to return to Nigeria on Tuesday, November 16th, 2021.
