Africa’s biggest economies have put a recent xenophobia incident behind and signed 30 trade and cooperation agreements Thursday easing tensions that followed attacks on Nigerians in South Africa, Reuters reported.
Nigeria’s President, Muhammadu Buhari and his South African counterpart President Cyril Ramaphosa, agreed to take proactive measures to ensure that “future potential outbreaks of violence are nipped in the bud before they degenerate,” Tolu Ogunlesi, Buhari’s Special Assistant on Digital/New Media, tweeted.
“We have decided to take concrete measures to prevent the recurrence of such unacceptable incidents in the future,” Buhari said.
The agreement by both nations took place in Pretoria at the end of a two-day visit by Buhari in the wake of a xenophobic attack on Nigerians and other foreigners in South Africa, which resulted in reprisals attacks and saw 600 Nigerians return home.
Ramaphosa announced that both countries had signed 32 bilateral agreements and memorandum of understanding, acknowledging the need to promote greater Nigerian Investment in South Africa, where he said Nigeria has “quite a number” of Small and Medium Enterprises.
“We note with appreciation the increasing presence of South African companies in Nigeria and agree on the need to promote greater investment by Nigerian companies in South Africa,” he said.
The trade agreement covers trade and industry, science and technology, defence, agriculture, energy, transport, art, culture and tourism.
Ramaphosa said Nigeria remained one of South Africa’s biggest trading partners accounting for 64 percent of his country’s trade with the West African Region.
Details shortly…
