Lagos State Governor, Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu, has charged the African Continent and the Pakistani Government to explore using emerging technologies to improve their trade and business environment.
Sanwo-Olu gave the charge during the 2nd Pakistan-Africa Trade Development Conference and Single Country Exhibition, on Tuesday on Victoria Island.
He said that it was an encouraging sign of the post pandemic recovery, that the world is finally opening up again, for travel, for business and for connection.
Sanwo-Olu said the COVID-19 pandemic has affected the global travel, affected trade, tourism, supply chain, even the way people greet and communicate.
”So a conference and an exhibition of this nature, taking place as the world slowly reopens, offers a unique opportunity for us to rethink the ways for us to bring about new ways and new paradigm shift.
”And it will be a way in which we do business and create and trade and investment across our various countries and continents.
”We must trade and invest for the new world that the pandemic has created for us and not for the pre-pandemic versions of the world, which has gone for good.
”This includes exploring ways of wrapping up the use of new and emerging technologies to improve the trade and business environment and to maximize the benefits of global trade,” he said.
The governor called on the Pakistanis to explore the business opportunities inherent in the African countries, especially in the West African region, for economic growth.
”I have no doubt that your presence here will be greatly rewarded, in terms of successful business connections and trade deals that you all will be signing,” he said.
Sanwo-Olu also commended the ”Look African” policy of the Pakistani government, which he said, recognised the immense opportunity of Africa as a home to the world’s largest free trade.
He said that the Look African policy recognised Africa as the home to some of the fastest growing economies in the world, and the pool of world largest population of young people.
”We have close to 67 per cent of our total population being youth under 35 or under 40, and they are all here in this country”, the governor said, expressing the optimism that the conference would indeed speak to the future of such a huge population.
