Dr Martin Uhomoibhi, the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Development 8 (D-8) Commissioner of Nigeria, says Nigeria will collaborate with D-8 countries to achieve vision 20-20-20.
Uhomboihi, who was represented by Mr Ibikun Oladitoye, a Director in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said this in Abuja on Monday during the third D-8 Working Group Meeting.
The theme of the meeting is: “Promoting International Trade Through SME Development”.
D-8 is a group of eight developing nations founded in 1997 in Turkey to foster economic cooperation among the member nations which are Nigeria, Iran, Turkey, Indonesia, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Malaysia and Egypt.
According to Uhomboihi, everything possible will be done to empower Small and Medium-Scale Enterprises (SMEs) as instrument of economic growth.
He said, “This is an opportunity to foster closer collaboration with other D-8 member countries toward achieving our national goal of vision 20-2020.
“It is, therefore, incumbent that no stone should be left unturned to strengthen our SME base as a vehicle for accelerating socio-economic transformation and development of our national economies, employment, wealth creation and ultimately, the eradication of poverty.’’
He said the forum should be used to address the challenge of enhancing capacity building necessary for effective implementation of D-8’s poverty eradication strategies.
On his part, Mr Husien Gaddashi, the Head of Iranian delegation, said “SMEs have the capacity to provide value-added security for member countries”.
Also contributing, Mr Hosaih Tusus, the Head of the Turkish delegation, said the success of any country depended largely on how sustainable and powerful its SMEs were.
NAN reports that delegations from Nigeria, Iran, Turkey, Indonesia and Egypt attended the meeting.
The agreement binding D-8 countries is designed to gradually reduce tariffs on specific goods among member-states, with a supervisory committee overseeing the process.