World Economic Summit: Buhari Gets G-7 Invitation

President-elect, General Muhammadu Buhari yesterday received invitation by the Group of 7 Countries (G7) to attend World Economic Sumit slated to hold May 8 and 9, this year.

Buhari also got invitation from the president of France, Francea Hollande.

Delivering a letter of invitation to General Muhammadu Buhari yesterday in his Abuja office on behalf of the G7, German Ambassador , Michel Zenner said he was in Nigeria to congratulate and invite the president-elect to attend the important event.

“I am here to congratulate the President-elect, Gen. Buhari on his election and hand over to him the letter from the German Chancellor inviting him to Germany.

“We have a very deep and intense relationship with Nigeria and there are lot of areas where we can deepen our relation and develop them further such as in the area of economy, energy among others.

“We have a by-national commission with Nigeria and we are one of the countries with which Nigeria has this by-national commission and it covers the whole range of political, economic and security areas. There are many areas in which we can move further and deepen our very close cooperation.”

The G7 countries include Germany, Italy, Canada, France, Great Britian, Russia and United States.

Meanwhile French Ambassador to Nigeria Denys Gauer said his country is committed to offering assistance to the Nigerian government in ending terrorism.

He said “As the French Ambassador, I came to congratulate the President elect for his brilliant achievement. His election is an enormous achievement for Nigeria and the democratic development of Nigeria. The people of Nigeria has expressed its confidence in the President elect. The challenges of Nigeria are enomous and I have come to wish him success.

“We also held a small talk about our bilateral relations. As you know, our relationship has developed quite well in recent years. In the economic field, Nigeria is already the first commercial partners of France in Africa.

“We have a strong presence of French companies in Nigeria and we are encouraging them to come more to Nigeria to invest here and establish partnership with Nigerian companies. We also have the French Development Agency that is present here and ready to contribute to development projects.

Our relationship also developed in the area of security. Boko Haram has become a major threat not only to Nigeria, but to neighbouring countries.

“Since the special summit in Paris in May last year, France has worked a lot to perfect cooperation and collaboration among countries in the region and also work with the Nigerian Armed Forces especially in exchange of information and to contribute to the common fight against the terrorist threat.

“I expressed our willingness to continue in the same direction, with the same objective to eliminate that terrorist threat in Nigeria and in the region.