By Aduragbemi Omiyale
The government of Belarus has offered to support the agricultural mechanization drive of Nigeria, promising to produce tractors that will fit the nation’s specifications.
This request was made by the Ambassador of Belarus to Nigeria, Mr Vyacheslav Bril, during a visit to the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Mr Boss Mustapha.
The envoy said his country has a track record in agricultural mechanization, producing 60,000 tractors annually with different modifications, assuring that the federal government of the desire of the landlocked country in Eastern Europe to partner with Nigeria in the area of agriculture, manufacturing, solid minerals, oil and gas, defence and security.
According to him, Belarus is ready to partner with Nigeria to provide the required expertise for sustainable development, noting that through its military-technical cooperation, Nigeria will receive the support of his government in securing modernized ammunitions.
He also assured the federal government that with their gains in the oil and gas industry, they would provide the necessary maintenance and upgrading of refineries to operate optimally.
Responding, Mr Mustapha thanked the diplomat for the visit, affirming Nigeria’s commitment to strengthening its bilateral ties with the Republic of Belarus in order to diversify its economy.
The SGF noted that Nigeria’s long-existing ties with Belarus in the area of trading have not improved and requested the Ambassador to explore means of improving trade relations so as to boost its volume of trade.
“To assure you that slowly but steadily, we will continue to build on this very strong relationship that we believe will be mutually beneficial to Nigeria as a trading partner with Belarus.
“We hope to see improvements in the same as the volume of trade between the two countries have not really increased in the dimension that we want to see over the last couple of years, but we believe that the way you’ve set to engage.
“I can see that since you presented your letters of credence, I think I can see that you’ve begun to engage ministers in cabinet, and you’ve been able to get some visits to Belarus from those ministers. that is the way to go,” Mr Mustapha said.
He commended the government of Belarus on the quality of their products which have received acceptability among Nigerians and promised to seek their support in turning the fortunes of the country’s agricultural drive.
The SGF informed the Ambassador of the federal government’s diversification drive and seeks partnership with the Belarusian government on Information and Communication Technology (ICT) as a way forward.
“I believe there are certain areas from which we can begin to partner. in the last two quarters, our digital economy and ICT have contributed immensely to our GDP, which is a clear indication that in as much as we are an oil-dependent country, but we can strongly drive the diversification drive in our economy particularly in the service sector.
“ICT stands out as an area we can partner as a nation. I hope you We have an opportunity with the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy (Mr Isa Pantami) so that you can discuss at length on how we can work together in a particular industry to see how, how you can help institutionalize our developmental efforts in that particular area,” he said.
Mr Mustapha also affirmed that the federal government would like the Belarusian government to partner with the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment, Federal Ministry of Youth and Sports Development among others to build institutions that would impact and transfer knowledge on entrepreneurship to our teeming youths.
