Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari and South African President, Cyril Ramaphosa, have agreed to meet in October to discuss trade relations between the two largest African economies.
According to Malam Garba Shehu, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, the two leaders will consider recurrent issues concerning the wellbeing of the Nigerian community in South Africa and the need to promote trade and investment.
“Your visit will provide an excellent opportunity for our sister countries to further consolidate and advance our strategic partnership and cooperation on matters of peace, security and socio-economic development in our continent,” South African President Ramaphosa had said in his invitation letter to President Buhari.
“We will discuss issues of mutual interest and concern in global governance,” the letter reads.
Ramaphosa said the meeting would provide an opportunity to inaugurate a bi-national commission for both countries to “effect the strategic decisions taken in 2016 to elevate it to the level of Heads of State.’’
As a reminder, Dozens of Nigerians have been killed in South Africa in anti-immigrant attacks, drawing outrage from the Nigerian Parliament in Abuja.
The two nations are the continent’s biggest economies, with trade doubling to $4.5bn in 2018 from the previous year, according to Bloomberg estimates.