BY Wasilat Azeez
Nasir el-Rufai, governor of Kaduna state and Niyi Adebayo, minister of industry, trade and investment, are among the dignitaries participating in the ongoing FIN Africa-UAE Trade and Investment Forum and the Forbes Best of Africa Energy Award sessions.
In a statement, the organisers said the event began on Sunday, November 21, at the Burj Al Arab Hotel, Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
The event will end on Wednesday, November 24.
The FIN event is a continuation of the UAE government’s bid to promote emerging economies in Africa and serve as a platform for Africa’s linkage to the world.
The event is a two-pronged package — the international energy forum is themed’ The Future of Energy and Extractive industries in Africa’ while the theme of the trade and investment forum is ‘The Road to a Prosperous Africa’.
Other participants at the ongoing event include Zulfiquar Ghadiyali, executive director, Directions Investment Holding Company (DIHC); Beata Habyarimana, minister of trade and industry, Rwanda; Ebrahim Patel, minister of trade and industry, South Africa; Nike Akande; former trade and investment minister, Nigeria; Prakash Parmanand Hinduja, Indian-born Swiss businessman, among others.
“The Trade and Investment Forum will aim at stimulating of wider inclusiveness between countries to speed up actualization of prosperous Africa; act as an advocacy machinery for the development of job creation incubation system for African youths at the grassroots and impact on the participants improved know-how on available opportunities for trade, investment and tourism,” the statement reads.
“The high point of the event is the FIN-Forbes Best of Africa Award where deserving companies, policymakers and entrepreneurs including the presidents of nations and ministers of petroleum in Africa and top oil and gas personalities and firms will be decorated with various awards and certificates of honour.”
Speaking about the event, Olayinka Fayomi, chairman of Foreign Investment Network (FIN), said: “It is estimated that the impact of COVID-19 would drag African economies into a fall of about 1.4% in GDP, with smaller economies facing a contraction of up to 7.8%.
“So, it is time to turn to trade and investments to help to build better bilateral trade and investment platforms and boost the economy as well as increasing productivity and export capacity.”
Fayomi said that the international energy forum would expose the latest inventions in the extractive industries and provide an opportunity for greater investment in the exploration amidst the challenges of global warming.
She added that there would be an exhibition area where extractive industries, technology, mining, inventions, software developers, gas exploration equipment manufacturers and multinational companies demonstrate their innovations.
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