Okonjo-Iweala arrives Nigeria for first working visit as WTO DG

Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, the newly elected director-general of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), has arrived in Nigeria for a one-week working visit.

This is her first visit to Nigeria since she assumed office as the first female and first African WTO DG on March 1.

Okonjo-Iweala was received by Nasir Sani-Gwarzo, the permanent secretary of the ministry of industry, trade, and investment.

“The whole objective is to see how the WTO can better assist Nigeria and Nigerian entrepreneurs with respect to improving the economy,” she told journalists.

“We hope to be able to use the African Continental Free Trade agreement to improve our trade and to do that we have to improve investments, we have to add value to some of our products.

“This continental free trade agreement is a unique opportunity for us to be able to engage commercially with other African countries and boost our exports.”

Listing the meetings that would hold during the visit, the former Nigerian minister for finance said she hopes to meet with President Muhammadu Buhari and his chief of staff, the minister of trade and industry, the minister of foreign affairs, the minister of finance, the governor of the central bank, the organised private sector as well as the micro, small and medium enterprises, and women entrepreneurs.