All sets for Abuja National Tourism Transport Summit Expo

*As Challenges of AfCFTA Trade Regime implementation gets attention

The stage is set for the hosting of the sixth edition of the National Tourism Transport Summit and Expo.

The event is a tourism and transportation industry combined outing of the Institute for Tourism Professionals of Nigeria (ITPN), in collaboration with the Ministries of Transportation, Aviation, Information and Culture.

The National President, ITPN and Chairman, Inter-Ministerial Committee, NTT Summit 2023, Chief Abiodun Odusanwo, who issued the statement in Abuja yesterday, stated that the expo holds between May 8 and 9, at the Abuja International Conference Centre.

It has as a theme, AfCFTA: Exploring Intra-African Trade, Tourism and Transportation Opportunities and Mitigating Barriers to Collaboration.

With this theme, the expo will focus on the challenges and solutions to the realization of the dream for all-inclusive trading partnerships for African nations as an entity of a singular market in the implementation of the AfCFTA regime.

According to Odusanwo, the choice of the theme was to reaffirm the need for synergy among implementers of the AfCFTA protocols as a way to overcome the obstacles to a successful implementation of the AfCFTA agreement.

They noted that the Summit will come up with a template for international cooperation and partnership within the African continent to improve and strengthen the basic conditions necessary for the successful implementation of AfCFTA.

Participants at the two-day event will be drawn from key players and stakeholders in the transport and tourism sectors such as airlines, tour and travel operators, administrators of the aviation industry; maritime industry including sea transport, boats and sea cruising operators. Others are road transport including major transport owners, car hire services, Uber, road traffic and safety agencies including Federal Road Safety Corps, motor insurance companies; state transport ministries and agencies as well as rail transport services.

There are also, operators of the tourism and hospitality industry, including tourism resort operators, National Parks Services; museums and monuments, state tourism Ministries and Boards, festivals and tourism events managers; hoteliers,
restaurants and fast food operators; conferences and events managers as well as service providers in the banking, insurance, oil and gas industries.

A number of interesting and critical sub-themes to address challenges in the implementation of the AfCFTA Protocols have also been lined up with experts and professional speakers assigned the task of coming up with means of mitigating these challenges, with the hope that participants will benefit immensely from it.

The sun themes include Powering AfCFTA Regime Implementation Through Digital and Technological Innovation Strategies; Actualizing Africa’s Open Skies Agreement in Consonance with AfCFTA Regime Implementation; Maintaining Resilient Infrastructures for Sustainable Trade and Transportation, Tourism with AfCFTA Regime; Agenda 2063: The Africa We Want and the AfCFTA Agreement; Finance; Banking and Insurance Sectors, Strategic Partners in the Implementation of the AfCFTA Agreement and AfCFTA Regime Efficacy: The Role of Gate Keepers in Quality Products and Service Delivery..

Others are: Blue Economy, Panacea to Sustainable Development of Trades and Transportation of AfCFTA; Strategic Architectural Approach in Cross Border Security Management in AfCFTA Regime Implementation; Unlocking Africa’s Tourism Potentials: A Sectorial Approach; Enhanced Media Reportage: Partnership for AfCFTA Awareness and Implementation; Skill Acquisition, Key Element for Labour Mobility in AfCFTA Implementation; Reaping the AfCFTA Potentials through Functional Entrepreneurial and SME Operations and Africa Business Roundtable, Critical Partners in Driving the AfCFTA Implementation.

Lead Speakers expected at the two-day event include the Director General, National Information Technology Development Agency (NiTDA); Managing Director, Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA); Managing Director, Nigeria Export–Import Bank (NEXIM); Comptroller General, Nigerian Customs Service, (NCS); Executive Vice Chairman, Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) and Director General, Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA).

Others are the Director General, of the National Institute for Hospitality and Tourism (NIHOTOUR); Director General, of the Nigerian Tourism Development Authority, (NTDA), Director General, of Voice of Nigeria (VON); Chairman, of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN); President, Abuja Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI) and the Managing Director, Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN).

Collaborating Federal Ministries will have their Ministers give remarks as host ministers with the Minister of Aviation, Senator Hadi Sirika as Host Aviation Minister; Engr. Mu’azu Jaji Sambo, Host Transportation Minster; Alhaji Muhammad Bello, Host City Minister and Alhaji Lai Mohammed, Host Information and Culture Minister.

Also, expected to make presentations at the summit are Heads and Chief Executive Officers of Departments and Agencies at both Federal and state levels, as well as Chief Executive Officers of Corporate Organizations, Organized Private Sector, NGOs and Heads of Foreign Missions and Embassies in Nigeria who will deliver goodwill messages

The National Tourism Transportation Summit and Expo has since its inception in 2018, offered a platform for public and private sector stakeholders, producers and consumers in Nigeria and the African Continent to come together, share ideas, and experiences, exchange knowledge and showcase their skills in the growth, development and promotion of the nation’s economic endowments, this time, by promoting the ideals of the AfCFTA Agreements and leveraging on it.

The Tourism Transportation Summit and Expo programme will feature Host City Walk, Tourism Transport Summit, Exhibition-B2B and G2B sessions, Tourism Transport Membership and Fellowship inductions, Launch of the Compendium of all Communiques of the Summit 2018 – 2022 and The Gala Night which will also feature Awards to deserving stakeholders in the industry.