President Muhammadu Buhari will depart Abuja on Monday for Riyadh, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, to attend the third edition of the Future Investment Initiative (FII).
Malam Garba Shehu, the President’s spokesman who disclosed this in a statement in Abuja on Sunday said that event was organised by Saudi’s Public Investment Fund (PIF).
Shehu said the event themed, `What’s Next for Global Business?’ will hold from Oct. 29 to Oct. 31, and would focus on three key pillars: Sustainable Future, Technology for Good and Advanced Society.
Shehu said the three-day event would be held under the patronage of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Salman bin Abdulaziz of Saudi Arabia and chaired by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz.
The Crown Prince is also the Deputy Premier, Chairman of the Council of Economic and Development Affairs and PIF.
”Given the increased investor confidence in Nigeria’s economy, President Buhari will use the occasion to speak about the economic opportunities that abound in Nigeria, the effectiveness of his administration’s policies to improve the business environment and invite investors to the country.
It is noteworthy that the total value of capital inflow into Nigeria increased from 12 billion dollars in the first half-year of 2018 to 14 billion dollars for the same period in 2019,” the presidential aide stated.
According to Shehu, the Nigerian delegation will leverage on the resources in Saudi’s PIF, which aims at becoming one of the largest and most impact sovereign wealth funds in the world.
The delegation, he further stated, would seek foreign investments in critical projects in the country’s oil and gas sector, particularly the Ajaokuta-Kaduna-Kano (AKK) gas Pipeline – the 614 km-long natural gas pipeline currently being developed by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation.
”Nigerian officials will also take advantage of the summit to accelerate discussions on the planned interest of the Saudi Oil Company, Aramco, to revamp Nigeria’s refineries and new investments in the oil and gas sector,” he said.