The newly inaugurated Nigeria Egypt Cultural and Socio Economic Forum (NECSEF) is a model business association focused on promoting successful economic relations between Nigeria and Egypt.
NECSEF’s aspiration is to be the one stop organisation and preferred gateway for conducting business in Nigeria by Egyptians, providing trust and the ability to engage with highly influential people who can provide access and market intelligence into every aspect of the Nigerian market.
NECSEF organised its first conference in collaboration with Nigeria Embassy in Cairo, and strategic partners Egyptian African Businessmen’s Association (EABA) on the 10th – 12th October 2022 to a roaring success.
The conference titled Nigeria – Egypt Trade Conference & B2B Meeting attracted over 300 high level business leaders and government officials. The event took place at the conference halls of the stunning St. Regis hotel Almasa, in the new federal capital territory, Cairo Egypt.
The idea for the conference according to Mr. Mahmood Ahmadu, chairman of NECSEF and OIS, the main organisers, was to strengthen bilateral trade relations between the two largest African economies, Nigeria and Egypt with the aspiration to boost trade from the current of circa $180 million US.
The NECSEF chairman Mr Ahmadu and Dr Yousry El Sharkawi EABA chairman made a joint announcement that an agreement of $30 million dollars was signed during the conference as part of strengthening bilateral relations.
Nigeria is Africa’s most populous country with over 225 million people, and Egypt is the third most populous country in Africa with over 104 million people. Egypt enjoys a mixed economy strong in tourism, agriculture, construction, fossil fuels with an emerging ICT sector.
Nigeria on the other hand has a mixed economy focused upon petroleum, and a growing agriculture sector, it also has an emerging market with expanding technology, service, financial and communications sectors.
There is great demand in Nigeria for Egyptian products and it’s really a promising market for Egyptian investments with some great Egyptian companies already operating in Nigeria.
A great percentage of Nigeria’s exports to Egypt are petroleum and gas products followed by agricultural commodities.
The objectives of the conference in part was to reach a new and viable vision with a view of mobilizing the private sector, civil society and business community of both countries to increase trade and actively participate in African development.
The well attended event was spaced out over three days; with the first day being the main conference with many high level speakers, attended by government leaders, senior members of several diplomatic missions, and leaders from the business sector.
The second day was a highly interactive B2B session, matchmaking several sectors with hundreds of the delegates where Nigerian and Egyptian business people participated in pitching and introducing their various businesses.
The third day was all about tours and external visits to some of Egypt’s most iconic centers. Delegates chose from one of two tour options, either a visit to the world famous Suez Canal Economic Zone, an innovative and self-sustaining industrial development and commercial hub, or the world class International Medical Center, a military hospital that is one of the largest in the Middle East.
The dignitaries who graced the event included Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State, Minister of Water Resources Suleiman Adamu, Minister of State Works and Housing, Minister of State Industry, Trade and Investment, Ambassador Mariam Katagum, H.E Nura Abba Rimi, Nigerian Ambassor in Egypt, Mr Anthony Nwachukwu, Vice President of Innovate 1 Pay, Mr Babatunde Irukera, CEO Federal Competition & Consumer Protection, Mr Khalifa Abdullahi, Chairman KK Kingdom Group, Dr Kassim Gidado from Nigeria Arab Gulf Chamber of Commerce.
Also in attendance was Dr Yousry El-Sharkawi, chairman Egyptian African Businessmen’s Association (EABA) Walid Gamal El Din, Chairman of the General Authority Economic Zone, Suez Canal, Dr Sherif El-Gabaly, chairman African Affairs, Egyptian House of Representatives, Eng. Ahmed Sameer,
Egyptian Ministry of Trade & Industry, Mr Walid Jamal Eldin, chairman of the Egyptian Nigeria Business Council among many others.
There were senior representatives from Nigeria Export Promotion Council, Nigeria Investment Promotion Commission, Nigerian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, African Export & Import Bank (Afreximbank), PWC, AFDB and others.
Source – https://expressday.ng/
