Business a.m. Reporter
The visit last week of Joy Basu, the United States deputy assistant secretary of state, has been described as clearly underscoring the strong U.S.-Nigeria trade and investment ties.
Basu, who overseas economic and regional affairs at the Department of State’s Bureau of African Affairs, visited Abuja and Lagos to discuss specific improvements to the business enabling environment, affirm positive economic reforms made by the Tinubu Administration, advocate for U.S. businesses seeking to invest in Nigeria, and highlight opportunities to deepen U.S.-Nigeria two-way trade, the US Diplomatic Mission in Nigeria said in a statement made available to Business a.m.
According to the statement, during Basu’s visit, her first, she met with Muhammad Ali Pate, health minister, and convened government and private sector leaders in Abuja, noting that she emphasised that the U.S. government is keen to facilitate U.S. investment into Nigeria and that additional reforms are needed to continue to create a transparent, trustworthy, and conducive investment climate.
“In Lagos, she brought together women from small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs), banks and venture capital firms to accelerate efforts to bridge the financing gap for women-led SMEs. She convened intellectual property lawyers, creative industry experts, and Nigerian content creators to brainstorm structural changes that would better protect and monetize creative content. She closed her trip by connecting U.S. tech startups to state government officials to explore opportunities to create a more connected and inclusive innovation ecosystem in Nigeria,” the embassy statement noted.
It also quoted Basu as stating thus: “We are building upon the rich connections that exist between our countries – our companies, our entrepreneurs, and our people – to co-create solutions to our common challenges,” adding, “We look forward to working together to discover and deliver better ways forward, not only for the people of Nigeria and America, but also for communities around the world.”
The statement noted that Basu’s visit to Nigeria builds upon months of sustained and operationally-focused high-level engagement surrounding the meeting of President Biden and President Tinubu at the G20 Summit in September, adding that at that meeting, President Biden welcomed the Tinubu Administration’s steps to reform Nigeria’s economy and thanked President Tinubu for his strong leadership as the chair of the Economic Community of West African States to defend and preserve constitutional order and the rule of law in Niger and the broader region.
According to the embassy, the United States had shown in recent months a high level of commitment to strengthening the U.S.-Nigeria relationship and expanding the prosperity of both countries’ peoples through several engagements.
Some of these engagements include visits by high profile members of the US government to Nigeria such as by assistant secretary for energy resources Geoffrey Pyatt, to establish a bilateral Energy Security Dialogue; under secretary of commerce for international trade Marisa Lago, to hear from government leaders and the business community in search of tangible investments across all sectors; Global AIDS coordinator, Ambassador John Nkengasong, U.S. President’s Malaria Initiative coordinator, David Walton, and Global Fund executive director, Peter Sands.
Other visits were those of deputy secretary of treasury, Wally Adeyemo, the highest ranking Nigerian-American official in the Biden-Harris Administration, to expand business and investment ties with a focus on entrepreneurship, youth development, and women’s empowerment; 12 executives from leading U.S. pension-fund and financial-service providers managing over $1 trillion in assets visited as part of a USAID-sponsored investor roadshow in partnership with the U.S. government’s Prosper Africa and Power Africa initiatives; U.S. African Development Foundation (USADF) CEO Travis Adkins visited to deepen trade and investment ties that can increase incomes, revenues, and jobs by promoting self-reliance and market-based solutions to poverty.
The statement stressed that Basu’s visit continues to demonstrate the commitment the Biden-Harris Administration made at the 2022 US-Africa Leaders’ Summit to deepen trade and investment ties with Africa in support of inclusive economic growth and shared prosperity.
