Chinyere Okoye
21 July 2008
Lagos — Finance Minister, Dr. Shamsuddeen Usman , has called for a closer cooperation between Nigeria and the Kingdom of Thailand.
Usman who paid an official visit to the kingdom between July 8 and 9 this year said a closer cooperation between Nigeria and Thailand was imperative in order to grow the economic and trade relationships between the two countries particularly in the energy sector.
During the visit, the Finance minister visited the offices and facilities of PTT Public Company Limited in Bangkok and Rayong, and held a meeting and luncheon with senior executives of the company.
At present, trade relationships between Nigeria and Thailand are concentrated on rice exports, as Nigeria is consistently a top three importer of Thai rice and also the biggest African importer of the product.
THISDAY learnt at the weekend in Abuja that the minister also during the visit formally invited PTT Public Company to invest in the power and gas sectors in the country.
PTT Public Company is part of Asia-Africa Energy Limited, a member of the consortium of Rainbow Power Limited.
Currently, Rainbow Power Limited (RPL) is planning to invest in the power and gas sector in Nigeria. The company plans to construct a power plant of up to 1,000 megawatt, a petrochemical plant and a fertilizer plant.
Also, on the priority of the consortium is the export of Liquefied Natural Gas from Nigeria to Thailand.
Nigeria has one of the highest natural gas reserves in the world. A closer relationship between the two countries in the energy sector will be a great complement as both Nigeria and Thailand have similar climates and landscape.
Already, Nigeria is being seen as an alternative market and a jump of point for Thailand based companies seeking to expand their markets in Africa.
The proposed investment of Rainbow Power Limited and consortium member PTT Plc in Nigeria may just be the first among the other Thai investments that may follow in the country.
Other potential investments that may come from the country are in the areas of hospitality and tourism industry, medical sector, agriculture and manufacturing among others.
With the current global oil situation, Nigeria, which possess the worldís 7th largest proven gas reserves of 185 trillion cubic feet, is naturally one of the highly targeted markets and is the best place to invest.
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