By: Adebayo Miracle
The Lagos state government has received a major boost in economic settings as Belgium expressed their intentions and readiness to expand bilateral ties with the government of Lagos State so as to benefit from several investment opportunities that are present in the State.
Mr Sam Egube, the State Commissioner for Economic Panning and Budget, who welcomed the Belgian Ambassador in Nigeria, Mr. Daniel Bertrand, to his office in Alausa, Ikeja also applauded the State Government’s resolve to improve the economy through an effective collaboration and partnership on opportunities opened for investment.
During the course of welcoming the Belgian Ambassador, Mr. Sam made it known that the government believed in effective partnership that would form the bedrock of development and would be in line with the T.H.E.M.E.S. Agenda, saying that “ Mr. Governor believes that we must have several levels of engagement and partnership to make things work. So one of the things we strive to is to ensure that those partnerships go beyond talk and into real definitive actions and as a result of this, we welcome you with a lot of excitement”
He further informed Mr Daniel Bertland that investment must be attracted which can only be done by working very closely with the state development partners and the federal governments. He also said that the Development Partnership Department in the Ministry of Economic Planning and Budget is being restructured to ensure a more active partnership with others to solve mutual problems.
The Belgium Ambassador, Mr. Daniel Bertrand also made the purpose of his visit known which is basically to familiarize himself with Lagos and the numerous opportunities which will also be presented to a delegation of Belgian business entrepreneurs that may be interested in doing business in the state, despite that Belgian business community is already active in Nigeria. Mr. Daniel said one of the priorties of his team is to strengthen their bilateral ties in Nigeria majorly in the economic and commercial fields, making reference to one of their active companies, Nigerite in Nigeria, he said they can be far more productive and that is why delegation of business entrepreneurs coming to Nigeria and who are very interested in Nigerian market are going to be welcomed in the next few months to Abuja or Lagos.
Gracing the occasion was also Mr. Stef Commers the Deputy Head of Mission, Embassy of Belgium in Nigeria; Aare Adebayo Sodade, Special Adviser to the Governor on Economic Planning and Budget; Mrs. Abiola Liadi the Permanent Secretary, Minister of Economic Planning and Budget; and the special Assistant to the Governor on Budget, Mr. Lekan Balogun among other dignitaries present.