Osinbajo Departs Vietnam for New York for a meeting

08 Dec Osinbajo Departs Vietnam for New York for a meeting

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo on Wednesday departed Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam, for New York in the United States (US) to participate in a high-level meeting on African Carbon Market, scheduled for Friday.

Osinbajo, who had been on a three-day official visit to Vietnam, would be delivering the keynote address at the New York event, which is being hosted by the Rockefeller Foundation.

According to a statement by Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Office of the Vice President, Mr Laolu Akande, the event will have global agencies and potential financial partners in attendance, to facilitate the activation of the Voluntary Carbon Market in Nigeria and on the African continent.

The event  is a major push for funding and technical support for the Nigerian Energy Transition Plan.

Participants at the meeting include the Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet, GEAPP; UN-Sustainable Energy for All, Several; the UN’s Economic Commission for Africa and the U.N. Climate Change High-Level Champions, all of whom have been advocating and actively planning for the African Carbon Market Initiative.

Earlier in Vietnam, Vice President Osinbajo  told the Vietnamese President, Nguyen Xuan Phuc, that Nigeria was the best, most natural destination for investment in Africa, adding that the Socialist Republic of Vietnam could leverage the cherished friendship with Nigeria to gain entry to the vast Nigerian and African markets.

According to a statement by his media assistant, Laolu Akande, Osinbajo informed Phuc about his engagements in Hanoi and restated that there was great potential for stronger and more fruitful collaborations between Vietnam and Nigeria.

According to him, “building on our friendship, we are looking forward to a greater number of Vietnamese investments in Nigeria and Africa by extension.”

He re-emphasized the advantage of Nigeria’s membership of AfCFTA, saying Nigeria offered one of the best investment destinations in Africa, some of the best investment conditions in Africa, because among other things, Nigeria was the gateway to Africa.

“We believe that if Vietnam investments come into Nigeria, it will have the potential of penetrating the gates of West Africa and the entire continent.”

The Vice President identified areas of investments for the Vietnamese business community to include renewable energy, solar power plants (in furtherance of international agreements to reduce gas emission by 20%) and telecommunications, noting that Nigeria was a fantastic opportunity for investment.

Phuc  assured the vice-president that further discussions would be held on the aspirations of Vietnamese entrepreneurs investing in Nigeria, especially, in the areas of agriculture, technology, telecommunications, oil and gas, among others.

On agriculture, Phuc specifically said, rice production was one of the strengths of the country, and as such, the collaboration between both countries could enhance Nigeria’s rice production capacity.

Commenting on Osinbajo’s previous meetings with his Vietnamese counterpart and Prime Minister, the president noted that the outcome of the interactions has been good, saying, “we have reached a consensus on many issues, we have a lot of potentials to explore.”