Denmark is committed to supporting Nigeria to diversify its economy from the over-reliance on crude oil to other viable and sustainable sectors, Amb. Torben Gettermann has said.
Gettermann, in an interview with newsmen in Abuja, said Nigeria should be exporting finished products to the West African countries.
“What we would like to see and what we do see and where we want to help as much as possible is in the diversification of the economy.
“Nigeria should make factories that can produce products not only for the local markets in Nigeria but also to export.
“This is because, that’s the way you can really make a change in the way people see Nigeria,” he said.
According to him, Denmark does not have natural resources but still produces and exports to other countries.
“We don’t have raw materials; we have some oil but that has almost come up from the ground, I think we have about 10 years oil left.
“So what do we have in Denmark? We have our brain, we have our education, we have people who come up with new ideas and we live on export.
“If we don’t export, we will not exist. So we have an export that is huge compared to our size but that’s important.
“Agricultural products, hi-tech, pharmaceuticals, you name it; all of these form part of the basis of our exports, which basically is our survivor.”
According to him, Nigeria should also learn from Denmark by exporting finished products and not just raw materials.
“We will like to see Nigeria exporting all kinds of high quality good that could meet the consumer needs not only in West Africa but around the world.
“Go out; fight the market for your products. That is what we want to see in the diversification of the Nigerian economy and that’s where we want to help.”
On the Denmark-Nigeria trade volume, Gettermann said that the Embassy was formally inaugurated in Nigeria in 2014 and that the economic ties between the two countries were growing rapidly.
He said that the volume of Danish export to Nigeria in 2015 was about two billion Danish Krona, while the import from Nigeria was about five billion.
“We were paying so much on buying so much more from you. So we have an imbalance.
“You export more to us than we export to Nigeria, which your government should be happy about. So that counts in your favour.
“But right now, we have, unfortunately, seen downturn both in terms of import and export,” he said.
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