The National Action Committee on African Continental Free Trade Area said it had begun the development of policies in partnership with relevant export agencies for free flow of trade in Nigeria.
Mr Ogo Chukwura , the Team Lead Export market development, National Action Committee (NAC), said the policies will bring together ministries, departments and agencies that have a role in supporting the growth of trade in the country.
He said in Abuja that infrastructure development was imperative to the operating environment of business and a key driver for cost.
Chukwura said the Committee would also identify the opportunities and developing strategies to help boost trade.
He also said the committee was partnering the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment to develop a programme that would allow agricultural produce move seamlessly from points A to B.
” We have engaged agencies such as the NIPC, NNPC, NEXIM and core institutions based on the over-all vision and strategy set up to identify the cross-over between the roles of agencies and coordinate to increase ease of doing business for SMEs.
“We are also partnering with the Ministry of Tourism and other stakeholders to ensure security . It is essential to ensure Nigeria is safe or at least tourist sites are safe so as to benefit from foreign exchange.
“We have identified and mapped out the goals, opportunities and challenges while working to proffer solutions for challenges.
“Our focus rests on creating projects and programmes that can reduce cost, increase efficiency and increase the capacity of SMEs to trade and be competitive,” he said.
According to him, power availability for businesses is essential and they are working with relevant ministries and stakeholders to find out sources of power that can be made available to business communities.
He added that negotiations were on-going to ensure pricing was kept within the capacity for business owners to pay.
He said the committee was working with relevant ministries to engage on logistics in produce of business owners for effective service delivery.
