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FEDERAL EXECUTIVE COUNCIL APPROVES NEW POLICY ON INDUSTRIALISATION AND REVIEWS ECONOMIC PARTNERSHIP AGREEMENT.

To enhance better industrial growth in the country,the Federal Executive Council(FEC)on Wednesday,January 23,2008 approved a new policy known as the Nigeria Industrial Development Strategy.

The policy proposes the "cluster concept of industrialisation as a plank for development of the country's Small and Medium Enterprises (SMES) as a way of realising the vision 2020 strategy.

Also, the FEC approved a study on the potential impact of the various support options for Nigeria under the status of the ongoing Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) negotiation between Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), Mauritania and the European Union (EU).

Nigeria is negotiating the new agreement under the platform of ECOWAS.

The EU and the 77 African, Caribbean and Pacific countries launched negotiation on the EPA on the platform of the Cotonou Partnership Agreement, which was signed in June 2003.

The EPA is supposed to replace the Lome Conventions. The trade agreement between the two parties had existed for 25 years and had hitherto allowed non-reciprocal free access to the ACP goods into the European markets.

The Council also approved about $46.65 million International Development Association (IDA) credit in support of the West and Central African Air Transport Safety and Security project, which has Nigerian component.

The approval of the IDA credit is to support West and Central African Air Transport Safety and Security projects in various airports in the two sub-regions.

Minister of Information and Communications, Mr. John Odey, Minister of Commerce and Industry, Charles Ugwuh and Minister of State for Information and Communications, Alhaji Ibrahim Nakande told journalists after the meeting of the Council presided over by Vice President Goodluck Jonathan that in view of the complex and tasking nature of the EPA negotiations, there is need to develop a structured approach that will clearly determine key national interest and identify the appropriate levels by which to pursue specific trade objectives.

Ugwuh said that under the cluster concept of industrialisation, "the Niger Delta is being designed to be the petrochemical hub of Nigeria. This would propel peace to reign in the region. For this concept to drive industrial development has become imperative."

He noted that the cluster concept strategy would be presented to the National Economic Council to encourage participation by all stakeholders and the 36 states.

On the on-going negotiation on the status of the EPA between the EU and Western African region, Ugwuh said that the EU had commissioned a British-based consultancy firm, Interplan, to study and analyse the impact of EPA on Nigerian economy.

The study would focus on the potential impact of the various support options for the new trade agreement with the EU. They include:

Studies on the sensitive agricultural and industrial product; on how to improve the competitive; and study on the impact assessment on the EPA on the country's economy and society compared with the EU sponsored study for the region.

Giving details of the IDA credit, Odey stated that "the project, when completed, will help to create a safe and secure environment in West and Central Africa that will allow African airlines to competitively access regional and worldwide market. This will give the expected result in support of sustainable economic growth within the region. It will also improve Nigeria's Civil Aviation Authority's compliance with international civil aviation authority standard on air safety and security; and improve security at Abuja, Kano, Lagos and Port Harcourt International airports."

President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua, who travelled to Davos, Switzerland, for the World Economic Summit, had already given anticipatory approval to the IDA credit for the improvement of the aviation and safety and security in the country.

The concessional facility, with a repayment period of 40 years, including 10 years moratorium, will be implemented by the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), Nigeria Airspace Management and Nigeria College of Aviation and Technology under the overall co-ordination of the Federal Ministry of Transportation.

The Council also approved the establishment of the Nigerian Council for Food Science and Technology aimed at effective co-ordination, control and supervision of wide range of activities in the nation's food sector.

Odey stressed that though the envisaged body would be "involved in the management of food-related matters", it would in no way compete with the National Agency for Food, Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC).

The Council also ratified the President's anticipatory approval of the re-award of contract for the engineering procurement and construction of the 20 inches by 107-kilometre Calabar Adanga Gas Transmission Pipeline at a cost of N9, 867,845,40.90, with a completion period of 15 months.