President Muhammadu Buhari is expected on Saturday to leave Paris, France for Durban, South Africa.
This was disclosed in a statement signed by the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina.
President Buhari will join other African leaders at the official opening ceremony of l second Intra-African Trade Fair (IATF) 2021 in South Africa.
The statement reads in part;
President Muhammadu Buhari will, Saturday, leave Paris for Durban, South Africa, at a special invitation by President Cyril Ramaphosa, to join other African leaders at the Official Opening Ceremony of the 2nd Intra-African Trade Fair (IATF) 2021 which takes place on Monday.
The event is scheduled to hold from November 15 to November 21 and is being convened by African Export-Import Bank (AFREXIM) in collaboration with African Union Commission (AUC) and African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Secretariat.
The theme of the event – Fair, Building Bridges for a Successful AfCFTA – aims at boosting trade and investment across the African continent.
Adesina in a statement expressed;
It also promises to create the enabling environment for businesses to thrive across the African continent; bring to fruition the lofty ideas behind the creation of the AfCFTA by providing the platform to further identify and proffer solutions to challenges militating against intra-African trade and; generate market information needed to connect buyers and sellers throughout the continent.
He added that global businesses including non-African international brands are expected to key into opportunities generated by the fair, thereby attracting for the continent trade and investment deals worth $40billion.
The President will be accompanied on the trip by Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama; Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Niyi Adebayo; Director-General, National Intelligence Agency, Ahmed Rufai Abubakar and the Executive Director/Chief Executive Officer of Nigerian Export Promotion Council, Segun Awolowo.
President Buhari is expected back in Nigeria on Tuesday, November 16.
