Nigeria's finance minister told African countries they need to start trading more with each other because foreign aid keeps getting slashed. Wale Edun said development assistance dropped nine percent last year and will probably fall another 17 percent this year based on what the African Development Bank is predicting. He mentioned that debt payments are eating up money that could go toward building stuff, and the whole multilateral cooperation framework that existed for decades is basically falling apart, except maybe for health and climate initiatives.
Some organization called Welcome 2 Africa International said they're working on at least 10 trade deals between African and Arab markets worth a minimum of 100 million dollars each. The founder said Nigeria needs processing facilities to back up its agriculture sector and create actual jobs instead of just exporting raw materials. Two countries joined the Arab Africa Trade Bridges program during the meetings, which helps with logistics and getting products into regional markets.
Some organization called Welcome 2 Africa International said they're working on at least 10 trade deals between African and Arab markets worth a minimum of 100 million dollars each. The founder said Nigeria needs processing facilities to back up its agriculture sector and create actual jobs instead of just exporting raw materials. Two countries joined the Arab Africa Trade Bridges program during the meetings, which helps with logistics and getting products into regional markets.
