Nigeria has reaffirmed its resolve to strengthen trade and investment relationships inside the Commonwealth as part of a group effort to unleash a $2 trillion trade potential.
Commonwealth Finance Ministers focused on this initiative during the World Bank and International Monetary Fund meetings at the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in Washington, D.C.
Mohammed Manga, director of Information and Public Relations at the Federal Ministry of Finance, said in a statement the talks focused on improving partnership across Commonwealth countries to promote sustainable development and improve economic resilience.
Finance ministers gathered to discuss plans that would prepare member nations for inclusive growth via better connectivity and trade facilitation.
Commonalities such as shared legal systems, according to the Commonwealth Secretariat, make trading among member countries roughly 21 percent less expensive than with non-member states. institutions, language, and systems lowering transaction costs.
If the appropriate policy and investment systems are maintained, the Secretariat forecasts that by 2030 intra-Commonwealth trade may reach the $2 trillion level.
Reaffirming Nigeria’s strong backing of the Commonwealth’s economic plan, Minister of State for Finance Dr. Doris Uzoka-Anite said that Nigeria’s economy was already well-positioned. She requested more funding to promote job creation, structural economic change throughout the region, and poverty reduction.
Nigeria’s participation at the IMF and World Bank meetings highlights the government’s resolve to engage global financial institutions even as it carries out major macroeconomic reforms at home, The News Chronicle gathered. Olayemi Cardoso, governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), is directing the delegation in place of the Finance Minister, Wale Edun, who is temporarily ill.
Commonwealth Secretary-General Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey had before underlined the group’s goal of increasing trade and investment flows among its 56 member countries in a comparable development.
Reiterating this position in a 2024 article in the U.K.-based Telegraph, President Bola Tinubu also exhorted developed Commonwealth nations to boost trade ties with African nations through preferred import and investment strategies.
By means of such collaborations, Nigeria aspires to be instrumental in transforming Commonwealth economies to be more integrated, resilient, and prosperous.
