Nigeria and South Korea, yesterday, renewed calls for a stronger economic partnership anchored on investment, manufacturing, technology transfer, skills development and integration into global value chains.

They spoke in Abuja at the Nigeria Economic Diplomacy Discourse (NEDD), organised by the Centre for the Study of the Economies of Africa (CSEA) in partnership with the Embassy of the Republic of Korea in Nigeria.

Themed “Korea–Nigeria Economic Partnership: Shared Experience, Practical Cooperation,” the forum brought together government officials, diplomats, business leaders, development partners, academics and policy experts to explore ways of translating the two countries’ longstanding diplomatic relations into concrete economic outcomes.

Speaking at the event, the Executive Director of CSEA, Dr Chukwuka Onyekwena, said the focus should move beyond diplomatic relations to practical cooperation in trade, investment, industrialisation, technology transfer and fiscal policy.

Also speaking, the Director General of the Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council (PEBEC), Zahra Mustapha Audu, said Nigeria needed to translate its business-environment reforms into tangible investment outcomes.

In his remarks, the Korean Ambassador to Nigeria, Jeong Yo-an, said the two countries needed to move from goodwill to practical economic cooperation as they marked 46 years of diplomatic relations.

Meanwhile, WTO Chairperson, Prof. Ngozi Egbuna, urged Korean companies to consider Nigeria as a production, distribution and innovation hub for the African market.