The Federal Government has solicited for more bilateral cooperation with Agence Francaise de Development (AFD) in their areas of comparative advantage.
This was made known by the Honourable Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, Sen. Abubakar Atiku Bagudu during a courtesy visit on him by the Agence Francaise de Development Group (AFD) Mission Executive in Nigeria today in Abuja. The Minister was ably represented by the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry, Engr. Nebeolisa Anako.
The Minister appreciated the Interventions of the AFD Group in Nigeria for the past fifteen years but however called for more interventions to explore for increased cooperation in the areas of Sports Development, Energy, Compressed Natural Gas (CNG), establishment of Hydro-power plants amongst others.
According to him, “We want to improve our energy with environmentally friendly energy which can be on Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) arrangement.
The AFD Executive Mission Lead, Mr. Phillipe Orliange noted that the importance of Nigeria within the International Financing Development has grown and it is imperative to do more work in the country. He noted that their aim of visiting the Ministry was to seek for opportunities of directing future investment in the country.
He explained that AFD as a Public Financing Institute was willing to offer support in the implementation of Nigeria’s National Development Plans (NDP) and realizing the eight – point agenda of President Ahmed Tinubu’s administration.
Earlier, the Acting Director, Plans and Projects, Dr. Kenneth Kwujeli made a presentation on National Development Plan and its priorities in line with the renewed hope agenda of the current administration.
Agence Francaise de Development Group is a Public Financial Institution that implements the French Government’s Plan and will be celebrating 15 years of sustainable impacts in Nigeria on 27th June, 2024 in Abuja.