By Ukpono Ukpong
The Korean Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr Kim Young Chae has said that last year, the bilateral trade between Nigeria and Korea rose to $2 billion.
According to him, the amount represents about 50 per cent increase in bilateral trade between both countries recorded in 2020.
Speaking with journalists in Abuja, the Korean Envoy said that Nigeria is Korea’s third biggest trading partner in Africa.
While noting that the increase was recorded in spite of the COVID-19 pandemic, he further revealed that the trade between both countries was driven mainly by Korea’s manufactured goods, like plastic and aluminum related products and Nigeria’s oil and gas.
“I hope that this year our bilateral trade continuously rises further. And at the end of the day I want to see Nigeria become Korea’s biggest trading partner in Africa. Nigeria is the biggest economy in Africa, so it should be Korea’s number trading partner among Africa’s countries.
“We are importing a lot of Nigerian gas to further increase our bilateral trade. Of course oil and gas is very important, but we want to see some agricultural products from Nigeria and manufactured goods in order to penetrate into Korean market. I hope more Nigerian companies will study Korean markets and Korean consumers. For example, we import a lot of sesame seed and I know that Nigeria produces a lot of sesame seed. There is a huge potential for Nigeria’s sesame seed or sesame oil,” he said.
He further called on Nigerian government to support the candidacy of Korean Foreign Affairs Minister, Kyung-wha Kang for the position of the Director-General of the International Labour Organization (ILO) at the election scheduled for March 25 in Geneva.
Kim said that Kang had met the Chief of Staff to President, Prof Ibrahim Gambari, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama, Minister of Labour and Employment, Sen Chris Ngige and the NLC President, Ayuba Wabba when she visited the country to campaign and seek Nigeria’s backing for her candidacy.
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