The British High Commissioner, Dr. Richard Montgomery, recently visited Abia to explore potential economic partnerships and investment opportunities with the State government.
This was stated in a statement made on Thursday in Abuja by Atinuke Akande-Alegbe, the Senior Communications and Public Diplomacy Officer at the British High Commission (BHC).
According to Akande-Alegbe, Montgomery traveled to Umuahia, the state capital, on August 20 and 21 for high-level meetings with the governor of the state, other government officials, and representatives of the business community.
She claims that during the two days of the visit, the state governor, Alex Otti, and the high commissioner talked about potential benefits for both the state and the UK.
“The high commissioner considered visiting Abia for the first time as a great opportunity to engage and interact with key stakeholders.
“Abia state is key to boosting Nigeria’s economic prosperity and the UK is committed to driving that growth.
“We very much want to develop our partnership, both with the state government and the good people of Abia, to enhance prosperity in the region,” she said.
She claims that the program’s goal is to close the digital skills gap by providing state civil servants with useful and applicable digital skills.
The communication officer also mentioned that Montgomery paid a visit to the Aba Chamber of Commerce, the Geometric Power Company, and the group in charge of creating the Abia Innovation Industrial Park.
She said he also visited an industrial fair that featured small and medium-sized manufacturers and talked about potential growth and joint ventures with UK companies.
Montgomery, according to her, also asked for their opinions and suggestions on how to promote UK investment in the state.
Meanwhile, UK’s Country Director for the Department for Business and Trade, Mark Smithson, said that the department was well placed to support the Abia government and the private sector to drive trade in the state.
“We look forward to building on discussions we had, strengthening our ties and exploring areas of collaboration and partnerships to boost trade, and deliver prosperity to both our countries.” he said.
(NAN)
