By Adedapo Adesanya
The bilateral trade between Nigeria and the Netherlands grew to at least $8 billion in 2023, according to Dutch’s Minister for Foreign Trade Development Cooperation, Mr Geoffrey Van Leeuwen.
Mr Van Leeuwen confirmed this when Nigeria and his country signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to further deepen the ties between both countries in Abuja recently.
According to a statement, the MoU was focused on cooperation in the field of politics, economics and migration/consular between Nigeria and the Netherlands.
Nigeria’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr Yusuf Tuggar, who was represented by the Director in the Office of the Minister, Mr Samson Itegboje, expressed appreciation to the Dutch for their support to Nigeria in different forums.
Mr Tuggar said, “This political consultation is also one of such platforms, where we have to discuss bilateral issues on trade and investment, and on migration, agriculture, water resources, and the consular.
“It is a very robust platform and relationship we have i hope that after now we will go into all the conversations and then, we will sign the MoU.”
On his part, Mr Leeuwen commended Nigeria for the warm reception accorded the Netherlands delegation, saying “it is such a warm welcome to me, the minister and the whole delegation”.
According to Mr Leeuwen, “since the delegation’s arrival, we have visited a farm where Dutch institute and young farmers worked together, it is such a wonderful start.
“Our relationship is getting much deeper and longer in agricultural projects. From the outside, we are your biggest trading partner, in Africa you are the biggest economy.
“I think the number three investor, but over time, the number five investor into Nigeria. We are also your top three trading partners and last year, we reached not less than $8 billion, in terms of bilateral trade.
“We are long-term partners, and we have decided to further strengthen our relationship in a more broader field, indeed migration, political, regional and all the aspects of the mutual relationship.
“We are here again today to strengthen that relationship to make it even deeper and stronger than it is today because you are the key player in Africa and our key partner.
“So, we are going to work on that and build on that,” Mr Leeuwen said.
Speaking on an aspect of the agreement, Mr Eric Burg, Minister for Migration said, “My colleague started with the farm, I started with NAPTIP and to talk about human trafficking is very important, especially about ways to strengthen our bonds.
“To fight human traffickers and to defeat them, we are also here to talk about migration in all kinds of ways because we are working closely together: why not we try to get it better.”
