June 27, 2023
Vice President Kashim Shettima has restated Nigeria’s commitment to strengthening relations with Republic of Korea especially in promoting trade, technology transfer and maintaining global peace.
According to a statement by Olusola Abiola, Director Information, Office of the Vice President, Shettima stated this on Monday when he received a delegation from the Republic of Korea led by the Special Envoy to the President, H.E. Jang Sungmin, at the Presidential Villa.
According to the Vice President, “Nigeria and Korea have a very robust bilateral relationship that is anchored on years of mutual trust and cooperation. A lot of Korean companies are doing business in Nigeria especially in the area of oil and gas. Six of our LNG trains were constructed by Korean companies.”
“We are fully committed to a very robust relationship between our nations. We need to learn a lot from Korea especially in the areas of manufacturing and agriculture. You are a success story worthy of emulation by all developing nations.”
He observed that “many years ago in the 50s and 60s, the Korean GDP was at par with many African countries but today, Korea is among the developed nations. This is partly due to the leadership and commitment of the Korean people.”
Speaking further, Sen. Shettima stressed that, “we are willing to partner with you in the area of technology because by 2030, there will be 65% global talent deficit with the US, Russia and Brazil suffering 6 million talent deficit. I believe Nigeria is in a unique position to fill in those talent deficits because ours is a young nation.
“75% of Nigerians are below the age of 35, so we are soliciting for your partnership and support in digital skills training for our young people. We want to create 1 million jobs in the digital world. India earned $120bn last year from global outsourcing and we are in a unique position to take advantage of the opportunities in the sector.
We need the skills set, we need the technology to drive the process and yours is a technology that we can embrace.”
The Vice President then assured the Korean Government of the Tinubu administration’s commitment to partner with Korea to strengthen relations with both countries especially balancing the trade deficit between the two countries.
On the agenda of the new administration, the Vice President noted that “security and economic development is the focus of our government. The government will make it easier for Korean businesses and other foreign investors to do business in Nigeria.
Korea has always supported us in the international fora and we have that obligation to reciprocate by supporting Korean businesses operating in Nigeria.”
He assured the Korean delegation that President Tinubu will honour the invitation of his Korean counterpart to the Africa-Korea summit in 2024.
He added, “be rest assured that Nigeria truly appreciates the Republic of Korea support to Nigeria in multilateral institutions, in the UN General Assembly, in our quest for a seat in the security council and in several UN bodies.”
Earlier in his remarks, the Special Envoy of the President of the Republic of Korea (H.E.Yoon Suk Yeol), Mr. Jang Sungmin, who congratulated Nigeria for the successful inauguration of the new government, conveyed special invitation from President Yoon to his Nigerian counterpart, Bola Tinubu, to attend the forthcoming Africa-Korea Summit in South Korea.
The delegation of the Special Envoy included, Ambassador KIM Young-chae, Ambassador of the Republic of Korea to the Federal Republic of Nigeria; Mr. YOO Chang-ho, Deputy Secretary to the President for Future Policy; Mr. JANG Sangwoo, Deputy Director for Planning and Execution Team, Bid Committee for World EXPO 2030 BUSAN; Mr. Guillaume Barthe-Dejean, Vice President, SK; Mr. KIM Inkyu, Chief Financial Officer, LG Electronics Nigeria Corp; Ms. Park Hyesong, Korea International Development Agency.
