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Spain ready to partner with Nigeria to boost local production of crude oil by
partnering to transform existing refineries in the country. (Image source: Businessday.com)
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The Spanish Government on Tuesday said it bought oil and gas
worth 6.5 billion Euros from Nigeria in 2014.
The Spanish Ambassador to Nigeria,
Alfonso Sebastian de Erice, disclosed this while on a visit to the Speaker of
the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, at the National Assembly.
News Agency of Nigeria report continues:
While appreciating existing
bilateral relations between Spain and Nigeria, Erice expressed readiness of his
country to help Nigeria to boost local production of crude oil by partnering to
transform existing refineries in the country.
He also said that Spain was prepared
to partner Nigeria in agricultural development.
"Spain is one of the partners
of Nigeria, the first or the second best client; we buy 6.5 billion Euros worth
of oil and gas.
"We are very happy with the
exchanges that we have, and we need the oil but we want to diversify because we
think it is very important that our economic relations should not be only in
gas and petrol.
"We want to cooperate with you
in agriculture; we have very good agricultural industry. We have comparative
advantage in tourism, manufacturing.
"We have several treaties that
allow us to work here. It is a domain that we will have to explore.
"For us, the oil business is
important because we need it but we want to diversity and I know that Nigerian
authorities also want to diversify," he said.
On terrorism in the country, the
envoy said that his country was ready to provide support towards combating the
menace, adding that Spain and Nigeria had signed several Memoranda of
Understanding (MoU) on training on anti-terrorism.
Responding, Dogara said that Nigeria
appreciated Spain's offer to help in fighting terrorist, noting that the
country had experience of insurgency as it had faced and overcame such problems
in the past.
He said that Nigeria had a lot in
common with Spain and called for further assistance to enable Nigeria to
diversify its economy.
In a related development, Dogara
pledged support for the development of tourism, mineral resources and other
sectors in Cross River.
He made the pledge when the Cross
River Caucus in the House paid him a courtesy visit.
The speaker, however, urged the lawmakers to
shun personal interests as there was the need to compensate those who suffered
during the electioneering campaign by promoting pro-people agenda which
included employment generation and security.
(NAN)
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