Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari on Friday had talks with top officials of Japan Bank for International Cooperation, and Toyota Group, at the Seventh Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD 7), in Yokohama, Japan, reported Pulse NG.
Mr. Nobumitsu Hayashi, Deputy Governor of the Japan Bank for International Cooperation, indicated the bank’s interest in supporting projects in which Japanese companies are involved in Nigeria. The bank said it had numerous resources dedicated for investment purpose and would be interested in oil and gas, and investments in infrastructure.
President Buhari welcomed the bank’s interest in Nigeria and informed the team that his government had introduced the Ease of Doing Business, and bureaucratic bottlenecks were being cleared off the way.
Ichiro Kashitani, President/CEO of Toyota Tsusho, a part of the Toyota conglomerate, indicated the company’s interest in sectors like energy, healthcare, and automobiles, saying Toyota would be delighted to have presence all over Nigeria. He said Toyota Tsusho is interested in building an advanced medical diagnostics center, which would foreclose the need for foreign travel to obtain cutting edge medical diagnosis.
President Buhari urged Toyota Tsusho to also consider setting up a car assembly plant, noting that Nigeria had the capacity to absorb the investment for positive returns.
The Nigerian President also held talks with Algerian Prime Minister, Noureddine Bedoui, and counseled t him that the political program in the country be faithfully executed, which would lead to general elections as soon as possible.
“Algeria is a good pan-Africanist nation, with a lot of influence over the continent,” Buhari said.
Prime Minister Bedoui said the dialogue was in progress with all stakeholders leading to elections, hopefully by end of the year.
TICAD 7 started on Wednesday, August 28, at the Pacifico Yokohama, in Yokohama, Japan. The 3-day summit is being attended by more than 20 African leaders, with a number of ongoing bilateral talks between the various countries and the government of Japan.
