The 8th European Union-Nigeria Business Forum happening in Lagos this week will seek the collaboration of business leaders and government officials from Nigeria and Europe to identify new opportunities to unlock the Nigerian economy towards win-win outcomes for the country and Europe.

The event is jointly organised by the EU delegation to Nigeria and the Economic Community of West African States, in collaboration with EU member states in Nigeria.

It stated that this year’s event, themed ‘Nigeria and the New Economy’, would focus on three key sectors, including the backward integration policy of the Nigerian government; opportunities to increase gas exports to Europe; and new initiatives in the agricultural sector.

The organisers further noted that during the forum, discussions would aim to identify causes of hindrances to businesses and explore how investment opportunities could be unlocked for the mutual benefit of Nigeria and Europe.

The statement partly read, “As in previous editions, this year’s EU-Nigeria Business Forum will seek to identify and address the bottlenecks militating against existing investors and deter new ones from investing in Nigeria’s economy.

“In addition to the plenary discussions, there will be world cafe-style exhibitions on both days of the event. The first day will feature a demonstration by several European companies operating in Nigeria on how they have been able to implement the backward integration policy of the Nigerian Government in their various sectors.

“Proceedings on the second day will be mainly focused on the Team Europe projects and EU businesses’ investments in the Nigerian agricultural sector.”