TheCable

Nigeria and the Netherlands have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to deepen bilateral ties between both nations.

Yusuf Tuggar, minister of foreign affairs, and Geoffrey Van Leeuwen, Dutch minister for foreign trade development cooperation, signed the MoU on Monday in Abuja.

NAN reports that the MoU focused on cooperation in the field of politics, economics and migration.

Represented by Samson Itegboje, director, office of the minister, Tuggar said the visit by the Dutch minister provided an opportunity to discuss bilateral issues on trade and investment, agriculture, water resources, and the consular.

Speaking at an event organised by the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), for its youths in agribusiness (YAS) project, Leeuwen said youths could help tackle food security challenges after the training.

The YAS project is being implemented with support from the Kingdom of the Netherlands and Golden Finger Farms and Ranches.

“This is the future of Nigeria. It is a great example where people are being trained in high tech agriculture,” the Dutch minister said.

“High-tech agriculture is something the Netherlands is very proud of. We are number two agriculture exporter in the world and it is wonderful for us in the Netherlands to be able to participate in this project.”

The minister said the visit was aimed at strengthening the relationship between both countries which “is getting much deeper and longer in agricultural project”.

“From outside we are your biggest trading partner, in Africa you are the biggest economy,” Leeuwen added.

“I think the number three investor, but overtime the number five investor into Nigeria. We are also your top three trading partner and last year we reached not less than eight billion dollars, in terms of bilateral trade.

“We are long term partners. 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 really 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.”

According to the Observatory of Economic Complexity (OEC), in October 2022, Netherlands exported €892 million worth of goods and imported €32 million worth of produce from Nigeria, resulting in a positive trade balance of €860 million.

In the same month, the top exports of Netherlands to Nigeria were petroleum oils and oils obtained from fish, milk and other agricultural products, while the top imports of Netherlands from Nigeria were cocoa and similar oils.