*Says Nigeria awaits investments from Japan, othersand promote direct foreign investments.
Kalu also said the administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu had provided the enabling environment and therefore, open to foreign investments.
The Deputy Speaker gave the assurance while speaking at the 64th birthday celebration of His Majesty, the Emperor of Japan, Prince Hiro Naruhito, in Abuja.
A statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Levinus Nwabughiogu, on Friday in Abuja stated that Kalu appreciated the long existing diplomatic ties between Nigeria and Japan, urging the Asian country and indeed, the global community to leverage the opportunities provided by the current administration and invest more in Nigeria.
“I want to congratulate the king of Japan who turned 64. It’s worthy of celebrating. If you look around, you will see the level of acceptance. It shows we love Japan.
“We love Japanese and the ambassador. The relationship so far, we are the home for primary products but it’s about time we use their technology to add more value to their primary products.
“Lots of resources are here. Japan is blessed with technology. They have been doing well with military assistance, communication equipment and the rest of them. We want to do more,” he said.
Speaking further, the deputy speaker said: “This place is now open for business. The President is in charge. He is a president that came out of the private sector. He understands the role of the private sector in any economy. Japan should not be left out. I trust the ambassador here, his relationship skill is wonderful. I know he’s going to convince a lot of them in Japan to come on board with foreign direct investments because soft landing has been created. The willingness of the President to make sure that every bottleneck is removed is guaranteed.
“We can assure you from the parliament that every legislative impediment that will affect investors coming into our country, we are willing to finetune the laws to make sure through legislative interventions that will give more confidence to investors like those coming from Japan.
“On behalf of the legislature and government, we are inviting Japan as we celebrate the birthday of their king. Nigeria awaits more investments. We will continue to improve on our sustainable diplomatic relationship with Japan and nothing will break that.”
“Let us make sure this relationship will reduce our unemployment rate, through innovation that will be ushered in by the technology that is found in Japan. What innovation does is that it questions tradition and ushers in more productivity.
“Finally, with the desire of the current administration to fight food insecurity, it’s about time we had a strategic relationship with Japan to be able to produce more food for our people to drive away hunger”, Kalu said.
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