The Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo Saturday put the value of bilateral trade between Nigeria and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) at $1.2 billion, noting that both countries would continue to become strong regional players.
Osinbajo made the disclosure at the 2019 United Arab Emirate (UAE)-Nigeria Cultural and Arts Exhibition 2019 held in Lagos.
He noted that there trade between the two countries had been in the increase.
The Vice President described the relationship between the two countries as strong and necessary and remarked that there were many other sectors of the economy where both countries could cooperate to achieve greater partnership.
He added that both countries had been supportive of each other in different areas, as seen recently in the creative industry.
He said Nigerians were some of the most frequent African visitors to Dubai, many of whom, of course, visit for tourism, but that he was sure that many years to come, tourists would be visiting both countries for arts and culture.
Osinbajo also added that as both countries were major regional players, a relationship of this depth was necessary and commended the Middle East nation, noting that UAE had been particularly supportive of Nigeria in many ways, including in harder areas of terrorism and in aiding in the recovery of stolen funds.
He said Nigeria and the UAE “have a deep and fruitful relationship that is growing at a promising rate. But one area where we are also beginning to see exciting collaboration with the UAE is in the Creative Industry.
“I’m sure you’re all familiar with the movie Chief Daddy, the movie, or the Wedding Party movies, the sequel of which was set in Dubai and went on to become one of Nigeria’s highest-grossing films.
“These movies were the results of partnerships between Nollywood’s, EbonyLife Films and Dubai’s Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing. We are excited that these collaborations are bringing in about so much, not just money, but also perhaps more importantly, the cultural links between our people.”