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Nigeria: Country Critical to Peace in Africa - EU
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Vanguard (Lagos)
11 May 2008
Posted to the web 12 May 2008
Chinyere Amalu
Lagos
The European Union Commissioner to Nigeria, Ambassador Robert van Meulen, said weekend, that Nigeria remained the only critical African nation that can maintain peace and prosperity in the region.
The Commissioner, who stated this at the celebration of Europe Day in Abuja, also said that EU and ECOWAS have to enter into serious discussion to get the European Partnership Agreement (EPA) on free trade between the two parties right.
According to him, like any global actor, EU relies on strong and stable relations with its international partners like Nigeria on so many important areas.
His words: "Nigeria is critical to the maintenance of peace and prosperity in the region. Its economic development has the potential to lift the region out of poverty, enabling growth and stability.
The signs of progress are clear. "Successive administrations have established much needed macroeconomic stability for example - an essential basis for development. With this in mind, Nigeria and EU are working hard to develop a close and open dialogue, going far beyond the usual framework of trade development cooperation.
"Nigeria's role in the sub region, as principal economic, trade and security partner, remains key to the success of regional integration."
He pointed out that the forth ministerial meeting between Nigeria and EU Troika, (EU Presidency Council and Commission) will discuss a huge range of issues.
"This meeting will focus on Nigerian electoral reform and the fight against corruption, to global and regional issues such as the migration, climate change and security, to name a few.
"The outcome of these meetings will shape Nigeria-EU relations for the near future, and feed directly into our cooperation programme", he said.
On the controversy surrounding the implementation of EU-EPA agreement by African countries, the EU Envoy said that, there is nothing wrong in giving Nigeria and ECOWAS member states more time to meet up the standard, adding that what is required is more discussions and talks on how to implement the trade relations.
"A functional and flexible dialogue will enable us to at collectively to address common issues, no matter their scale, severity or unexpectedness. An obvious example is the on-going global food crisis, a clear case of where a coordinated response is critical.
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Yes we should give Nigeria and ECOWAS our technical support and assistance, but how do we do it, how do we set up an industry, business centre, and a standard that will contribute to the exportation of the market. All these questions must be answered, but we must sit on the table and talk about it."
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