Bennett Oghifo
The Foreign Commercial Service of the United States Diplomatic Mission to Nigeria concluded a four-day outreach to Enugu State that focused on expanding commercial ties between the U.S. and Nigeria, especially the South-east geo-political zone.
This is contained in a statement released yesterday by the Information Office, Public Affairs Section (PAS), U.S. Consulate General in Lagos.
During the outreach which took place between April 4 and 7, a team of trade and commercial specialists from the U.S. Mission to Nigeria, led by Commercial Counselor Brent Omdahl, held meetings with Enugu State Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, state commissioners, and other senior cabinet-level officials on trade opportunities which would contribute to mutual prosperity and job growth for both countries.
The statement said, Governor Ugwuanyi and Commercial Counselor Omdahl discussed U.S. investments in Enugu State, including the on-going $700 million Motir DuSable solar plant project in the Nachi community of Udi local government area.
The US officials said “At full capacity, the solar plant will add 300 Megawatts to the national grid.
“This outreach demonstrates the strong U.S. business interest in expanding commercial ties with Nigeria.”
While in Enugu State, the U.S. Foreign Commercial Service participated in the 28th Enugu International Trade fair. The Foreign Commercial Service also hosted leading regional business owners at a workshop entitled: “Networking with the USA Business Summit and Conference – Enugu 2017.”
Omdahl said, “We are expanding our Networking with the USA (NUSA) programme to key growth areas in Nigeria and we see Enugu as one such important growth area. During this programme, we advised Enugu companies on best practices for engaging with American companies, in addition to discussing U.S. agencies to work with in order to take advantage of various partnerships.”
In the course of the Networking with the USA (NUSA) programme, an American consular officer from the U.S. Consulate General in Lagos held a session with the business owners on the process for obtaining a business visa to America. The consular officer demystified the commonly held ideas about U.S. visa application process.
The Foreign Commercial Service of the U.S. government works to promote the expansion of U.S. trade and investment to Nigeria through support of business partnerships between American and Nigerian companies.
