Nigeria wants to diversify its economy moving away from hydrocarbons and is interested in Russia's help in agriculture, manufacturing and other sectors, the country's Ambassador to Russia Steve Davies Ugbah told Sputnik
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 20th June, 2019) Nigeria wants to diversify its economy moving away from hydrocarbons and is interested in Russia's help in agriculture, manufacturing and other sectors, the country's Ambassador to Russia Steve Davies Ugbah told Sputnik."We want to enlarge it [cooperation with Russia] in all sectors. The priority is agriculture because Nigeria wants to develop ... We are very strong in hydrocarbons but we want to move away from hydrocarbons to agriculture, manufacturing, services, those are priorities. So we are looking to strengthen our bilateral relations with Russia to help us develop those sectors of our economy. We also want to develop our infrastructure railroads, bridges, roads, power. We need a lot of help in those areas," the ambassador said on the sidelines of the Russia,Africa Economic Conference.
He added that cooperation with Rosatom on a nuclear power plant (NPP) was being discussed.
"We are discussing with Russia actively, the question about Rosatom NPPs is on the table. The issue of railways, the issue of helping us with infrastructure. We have those issues on the table; agriculture is a number one priority, is also on the table," the diplomat said.
Ugbah added that a delegation of 10 or 12 companies had come to Russia to talk to Russian businesses.
"Tomorrow we have a meeting at the Russian camber of commerce to explore different areas agriculture, health, education, manufacturing, all those areas are on the table," the ambassador said.
The Russia,Africa Economic Conference is part of the Annual Meetings of the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) that are currently held in Moscow.
