The Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC) began a sensitization program on the imperatives of trade agreements for market access in international trade on Tuesday in Kaduna.
The program was organized in collaboration with the Kaduna Chamber of Commerce, Industry Mines and Agriculture (KADCCIMA) and targeted exporters.
It aimed at creating awareness in exporters about the advantages of international trade in goods and services and the enormous benefits to the national economy.
It also aimed at enlightening exporters about the challenges in market access through trade agreement windows.
NEPC’s Smart Office Coordinator in Kaduna State, Alhaji Kasim Yahaya, said at the opening that exporters should take advantage of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA).
AGOA is a piece of legislation approved by the U.S. Congress in May 2000 to assist the economies of sub-Saharan African countries to improve economic relations between the United States and Africa.
The legislation will lapse at the end of 2025.
Yahaya said exporters should take advantage of the legislation to export more and improve their private and the nation’s economy.
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He advised exporters to also leverage the ECOWAS Trade Liberalisation Scheme established in 1979 and the African Continental Free Trade Area Agreements established in 2018 for market access.
Yahaya noted that economic cooperation between nations had become a dominant factor in contemporary international relations with countries increasingly pursuing economic prosperity through bilateral and multilateral networks.
He argued that the ECOWAS economic trade liberalization scheme must be implemented aggressively if the sub-regional bloc is to live up to expectations.
Yahaya stressed NEPC’s commitment to creating a world market for Nigeria’s non-oil products export.
In his remarks, the President of KADCCIMA, Alhaji Sulaiman Aliyu, said the chamber considered non-oil exports as an economic game changer, noting that thankfully, the Federal Government placed emphasis on non-oil exports.
Some producers and exporters at the workshop urged the NEPC and other relevant stakeholders to provide an enabling environment for exporters to thrive.
They called on the government to minimize the cost of export and to set standards for the activity.
