Buhari off to meet with Trump on shared priorities
President Muhammadu Buhari will leave Abuja today on an official visit to the United States of America on the invitation of President Donald Trump. Presidential spokesman, Mr. Femi Adesina, said in a statement yesterday that Buhari would have a bilateral meeting and a working lunch on Monday.
The meeting, according to Adesina, is to discuss ways to enhance the strategic partnership between the two countries and advance shared priorities such as promoting economic growth, fighting terrorism and other threats to peace and security. He said the meeting would further deepen United States-Nigeria relations. He said Buhari would meet with a group of business persons in agriculture and agro-processing, dairy and animal husbandry.
Meetings had earlier been scheduled between senior Nigerian government officials and executives of major United States companies in the areas of agriculture, aviation and transportation, he added.
Adesina said: “In the area of aviation, the Nigerian officials will be meeting with Boeing, the largest aircraft manufacturer in the world, on the national carrier project.
“On agriculture, they will meet with large equipment manufacturers with focus on harvesting and postharvesting equipment.
“In the area of transportation, the officials will meet with the GE-led consortium for the implementation of the interim phase of the narrow gauge rail concession.
“In the interim phase, a substantive concession agreement will be negotiated and finalized to provide the consortium the opportunity to invest an estimated $2bn to modernize the rail line from Lagos to Kano (Western Line) and from Port Harcourt to Maiduguri (Eastern Line). During the meeting, the concession framework and the interim phase framework agreements are expected to be signed.
“The Nigerian officials will also meet with US-EXIM Bank and the US Overseas Private Investment Corporation to explore competitive financing arrangements.”