By Omoh Gabriel

Nigerian Economic Summit will begin on Thursday at Abuja, as President Goodluck Jonathan leads top government functionaries, cabinet ministers, global and local business leaders and members of the diplomatic corps to the opening ceremony of the 17th Nigerian Economic Summit at the Transcorp Hilton.

President Jonathan is also expected at the summit to drive home his administration’s efforts at boosting investments into the different sectors of the Nigerian economy at a session tagged: Presidential Dialogue with Global CEOs.

Director-General of the Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG), Mr. Frank Nweke Jr. said that the theme of this year’s summit – Attracting Foreign Direct Investment through Global Partnerships’– “is core to President Jonathan’s transformation agenda and vision to grow Nigeria into one of the 20 largest economies in the world by 2020.”

According to Nweke Jr., President Jonathan will be actively involved in key strategic sessions of the summit which brings public and private sector players to dialogue on implementable measures to drive the Nigerian economy towards positive ends.

“He will engage in the traditional duties of opening the summit on Thursday November 10, touring the exhibition stands, receiving the summit communiqué and presiding over the closing on Saturday, November 12. Beyond these ceremonies however, President Jonathan is leading a historic two-hour session on Thursday, November 10 tagged: Presidential Dialogue with Global CEOs.

“This session promises to be exciting and informative, as President Jonathan takes the lead in a dialogue with a group of global company chiefs. They will have an open conversation which will give Mr. President an opportunity to present Nigeria’s case as an attractive destination for FDI, while the corporate heads share their thoughts and experiences as seasoned institutional investors.

“Joining Mr. President in this important session is a group of top-flight industrialists representing diverse industries and countries. The panelists include: Executive Vice-President, Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA), World Bank, Izumi Kobayashi; CEO, Procter & Gamble, Manoj Kumar; CEO of Symbion Power, Paul Hinks; CEO of MTN, Sifiso Dabengwa; Executive Vice-President, Shell Upstream International, Maarten Wetselaar; President, GE Africa, Jay Ireland and Nigeria’s own Aliko Dangote, President, Dangote Industries Ltd.

“The objective of the Presidential Dialogue is to give Mr. President direct insight into what global investors seek and the strategies that the public and private sector can engage to mitigate the constraints which hold back FDI.

“Mr. President is actively participating in this Summit because he is a man who wants to promote Nigeria at every opportunity; he is also someone who likes to listen and learn from the wisdom of others and who wants to act on lessons learned. This platform will provide a wonderful opportunity to deepen confidence in Nigeria as an investment destination and to build greater collaboration between Nigeria and the purveyors of global capital,” Nweke Jr. stated.