The promotion of trade among countries in the West African region will take centre stage when the Economic Community of West African States and friendly countries unite in Lagos in September for the fourth edition of Ecofairs.
The Chief Executive Officer of Ecofairs, Sylvester Riicolins stated this recently during the official launch of Ecofairs 2024 in Lagos.
According to Riicolins, this year’s event will be held at the Tafawa Balewa Square in Lagos between September 6 and 15.
He added that this year’s edition is a 4-in-1 event, which would run day and night through the 10 days of the trade fair.
Riicolins further stated that over 10,000 buyers of goods and services are expected on each day of the event.
He said highlights of the event include sales and exhibition, the Africa Excellence Awards and a malaria eradication programme.
Riicolins said, “I want to tell Nigerians that Ecofairs has come to benefit all the Nigerians at different levels. This is the first time that we will be having a day and night fair. After going around Lagos, I found out that so many parts of Lagos don’t sleep.
“So, we want Lagos to know that you can do business at night as well as the day.
“Lagos state is safe for everybody. So, we want to transform the nightlife of Lagos to improve its economy. We are inviting over 40 countries to participate.
“These people are bringing to our doorstep, products that we would have required visas to go and buy.”
On his part, the Commercial First Secretary and Head of the Economic and Office of the Egyptian Embassy in Lagos, Amr Altantawy, noted that African economic development was one of the top priorities to Egypt.
According to him, Egypt and Nigeria have a strong presence and influence in all African forums and entities.
He expressed optimism that the trade fair would encourage trade between Nigeria and Egypt, especially in food industries, agriculture, mining, energy, construction, infrastructure, textiles, health and medical industries, IT, among others.
He said, “Regarding the economic bilateral relations, Egypt and Nigeria are the two largest economies in Africa. Economic relations between the two countries witnessed a new level of activities during the past few years.
“Major Egyptian companies such as Arab Contractors, Mantrac, Elsweedy and Raya have established themselves as strong players in Nigerian market and they participated in infrastructure and power major projects.”
According to ECOWAS data, external trade of ECOWAS is dominated by several products and generates local value added due to the preponderance of fuels coming from extractive industries.
These represent three-quarters (75 per cent) of exports, excluding re-exports and are provided mainly by Nigeria (73 per cent).
Cocoa and cocoa food preparations (five per cent of exports) , precious stones (three per cent) and secondarily cotton, edible fruit, rubber , plastics , wood and wood products, fish and shellfish (about one per cent each), form together with fuel, the major export products of the West African Economic Community.
According to organisers, Ecofairs aims to create a platform that will enhance business interaction in the region and promote made-in-Africa products.
