FG Plans Review of Trade Policy

• FG Plans Review of Trade Policy

The Federal Government will soon commence a comprehensive review of the country’s trade policy in order to avoid dumping of substandard products in Nigeria by some foreign trade partners.

The review, which will be done this year, is the first to be carried out since 2002 when the current policy was formulated.

The Trade Advisor to the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment and Chief Trade Negotiator for Nigeria, Ambassador Chiedu Osakwe, disclosed this on Wednesday in a chat with our correspondent in Abuja.

He said the review of the trade policy would be done in such a way that it would discourage dumping and promote the diversification efforts of the government.

Osakwe stated, “We want to restructure our trade policy and reset the economy with it, and we will be using trade negotiations to create a consistent safeguard to protect the economy.

“So, we will be working on our domestic trade laws that will safeguard the economy, prevent dumping and enlarge the Nigerian market.”

He also said that the Federal Government would not be stampeded into signing and ratifying the Economic Partnership Agreement between the European Union and the Economic Community of West African States region

Osakwe explained that while Cote d’Ivoire and Ghana had signed to the agreement, Nigeria was not in a hurry to do same as the agreement in its current form would not support the diversification efforts of the Federal Government.

He said the review of the trade policy would enable the government to expand market opportunities for Nigerian companies as well as look into the ECOWAS Common External Tariff and the EPA that had been seen to be controversial.