Nigeria and Ethiopia are set to enter into a technical partnership for joint trading of commodities for the two regions of East and West Africa and the two countries.
The deal, when operational will see the Ethiopian Commodities Exchange (ECX) training workers of the Nigeria Commodity Exchange (NCX) on technical operations including internship.Speaking to The Nation on the development in Abuja over the weekend, the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, NCXZaheera Baba-Ari said both countries are planning to “enter into market information services whereby they (ECX) will be listing commercially viable Nigerian agricultural commodities such as maize, sesame, cotton, cowpea, cashew nuts and cottons but they will be adding more commodities as time goes on.”
Both Commodities Exchanges she said are in the process of drawing up a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to give legal backing for the planned commodities marketing collaboration.
Baba-Ari said the benefits of the partnership include “opening up business opportunities for Nigerian farmers to attract buyers from African countries and abroad, apart from improving marketing opportunities which will lead to improved revenue for Nigerian farmers, this arrangement will also boost production by farmers who have been exposed to new market frontiers.”
To help Nigerian farmers make the best of the occupation, Baba-Ari added that NCX has established commodities trading relations with Commodities Export Associations in Sudan.
