•Leading participants
As the race to increase inter-and intra- African trade gathers momentum, Tanzania and Nigeria held a trade and investment forum in Lagos to strengthen trade investment between two nations.
The theme of the forum was “Accelerating investment and trade between Tanzania and Nigeria for economic development”.
Speaking at the event yesterday in Lagos, Engr. Leye Kupoluyi, president of the Lagos Chamber of Commerce & Industry (LCCI), said that forum is a strategic economic intervention designed to reposition bilateral trade and investment relations between two of Africa’s most systemically important economies, reports Daily Independent.
He stated that the forum represents a deliberate effort to anchor Africa’s growth trajectory on intra-continental commerce, productive investment, and value-chain integration.
According to Kupolokun, Nigeria and Tanzania share a long history of political solidarity and multilateral cooperation, adding that in the contemporary global economy, diplomatic goodwill must be translated into commercially quantifiable outcomes, adding that both countries are now at pivotal stages of economic transformation.
“Nigeria is undertaking macroeconomic rebalancing through exchange-rate reforms, fiscal restructuring, and subsidy rationalisation, while Tanzania continues to consolidate macroeconomic stability through disciplined monetary policy, infrastructure investment, and export diversification. These parallel reform paths create a strong foundation for structured private-sector collaboration rather than opportunistic trade,” the president of LCCI observed.
He mentioned sectors where opportunities lay in both countries to include agriculture and agro-processing, energy, power, renewable energy, manufacturing tourism, fintech, logistics and cross-border e-commerce platforms.
He stressed the need to convert dialogue into deliverables, policy into projects, and goodwill into sustainable enterprises, adding that the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry is ready to work with its Tanzanian counterparts to institutionalise business-to-business platforms, develop sector-specific investment pipelines, and monitor implementation milestones arising from this engagement.
Also speaking at the event, the Director-General of LCCI, Dr. Chinyere Almona, said that the engagement is a strategic platform to expand commercial linkages, promote investment opportunities, and foster meaningful partnerships between Tanzanian institutions and the Nigerian private sector.
According to her, with the persistent Russia-Ukraine war and the ongoing U.S.-Israel-Iran war, coupled with the ongoing global tariff crises and trade wars, it has become necessary to increase trade on the African continent to minimize disruptions caused by global events. She stressed the need to boost local manufacturing capacities on the continent and depend less on imported finished products.
The director general of LCCI said that the relationship between Nigeria and Tanzania is particularly significant in the context of intra-African economic cooperation, adding that Nigeria, as Africa’s largest consumer market and one of its most diversified economies, offers vast opportunities in manufacturing, services, agriculture, technology, and infrastructure development. While Tanzania, on the other hand, has emerged as one of East Africa’s most stable and reform-oriented economies, supported by steady economic growth, political stability, and an increasingly competitive investment environment. The complementaries between our two economies create a compelling foundation for stronger commercial engagement.
She observed that the current trade relations between Nigeria and Tanzania remain relatively modest when compared with the size and potential of the two economies, adding that the gap should not be viewed as a constraint but rather as a strategic opportunity to expand trade between the two nations.
According to her, from an investment perspective, Tanzania is a highly compelling destination for Nigerian investors seeking to expand into East Africa, saying that the country’s geographic location provides strategic access to regional markets across the East African Community and neighbouring economies.
In his remarks at the event, H.E. Selestine Gervas Kakele, the Tanzanian Ambassador to Nigeria, described Nigeria as the economic powerhouse in Africa and stressed the critical role it is playing in the development of the continent.
He thanked the chamber advancing new areas of mutual interests for investments and business promotion between two countries.
He called on Nigerian investors to take advantage of the investment opportunities in Tanzania to invest in the country. He listed in various agriculture, infrastructure, manufacturing, transport, finance and tourism and others as areas they can invest in.
He commended Dangote Industries, Sahara Energy, GTB Bank and other companies for investing and contributing to the economic development of his country.
