NIGERIA GOES INTO TRADE WITH PAKISTAN.

Nigeria’s High Commissioner to Pakistan, Dauda Danladi, on
Tuesday said the resuscitated Nigeria-Pakistan Joint Commission
would review moribund agreements in three key economic sectors.
Danladi, who made this known when he addressed newsmen in
Abuja, said the sectors include agriculture, textile and
pharmaceutical.

He said the joint ministerial committee meeting of the commission
would hold a two-day meeting in Abuja next week.
The envoy said a high-level Pakistani delegation led by the
Minister of Petroleum would be in Abuja from April 7.
According to him, the meeting is the first of its kind after 30 years
of the commissions’ establishment.
“In agriculture, we are talking about fertiliser production,
agricultural implements like simple tractors and simple farm
implements where Pakistan has comparative advantage over us.
“We are also going to look at seedlings and rice processing mills
because Pakistan is the fourth largest exporter of rice in the
world,” he said.
On textile development, Danladi said Pakistan was the fourth
largest exporter of textile in the world and Nigeria had 1,200 textile
companies that were moribund.
“We want to see how we can partner and collaborate with textile
industrialists in Nigeria to resuscitate some of the textile
industries,” he said.
The envoy said it was unacceptable for Nigeria to spend six billion
dollars on the importation of textiles in 2012 and 10 billion dollars
on the importation of rice in 2011.
On pharmaceuticals, he noted that the country was spending huge
sums on importation, and stressed the need to develop the local
capacity to produce drugs.
He said the joint commission would also consider agreements on
education and scientific cooperation.
He said, “Today, Pakistan is able to meet its defence
requirements, it is producing armoured tanks and personnel
carriers and they have just launched the GF-17 aircrafts.”
Danladi told newsmen that to demonstrate the cordial relations of
both countries, the President of Pakistan, Mamnoon Hussain,
would visit Nigeria this month.
“This is first time in 30 years that a president of Pakistan is
visiting Nigeria,”