Tinubu heads to New York Sunday for UN General Assembly

President Bola Tinubu will on Sunday depart Abuja to attend the 78th United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York, United States of America (USA).

Disclosing this to journalists during a briefing at the Presidential Villa, Abuja on Friday, Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Ajuri Ngelale, also declared an elaborate itinerary for President Tinubu’s outing in New York.

According to Ngelale, alongside the General Assembly proceedings, the President has a series of key meetings with multinational executives to discuss digital transformation, innovation, and investment in Nigeria.

He will also participate in important summits focusing on Sustainable Development Goals and climate ambition. Bilateral meetings with various world leaders will emphasize investment and economic development diplomacy.

“Aside from the engagements he’s going to be having at the General Assembly, there are series of very important side activities that will have wide ranging ramifications on the Nigerian economy.

“Following Mr. President’s successful trip to New Delhi for the G-20 and the staggering amount of investment he has been able to attract to Nigeria in a very short period of time, he is going to continue advancing very aggressively on his economic development, diplomatic drive to attract foreign direct investment into the country.

“So with that, I would like to inform you that His Excellency, Mr. President will be having the following meetings with major chief executives and leaders of multinational firms cutting across multiple sectors of the economy

“The President will be meeting with the President of the Microsoft company worldwide, Brad Smith, with respect to how we can deepen digital transformation in the country, and how we can expand the digital economic footprint in the country to ensure that our micro and small enterprises will have access to the internet and have access to other smart technologies that will facilitate their ability to transact business quickly and efficiently.

“Mr. President will also be meeting with Sir Nick Clegg who is the president of Global Affairs for Meta technologies, that is expected to be a wide ranging conversation with respect to how we can leverage new innovations such as artificial intelligence and certain other applications to impact the way we do business in Nigeria.

“He will also be meeting with the global CEO of General Electric. Of course, the General Electric is a very well known international organization that cuts across multiple sectors, they have very deep involvement in the energy sector, electric power generation aviation, you know, engine production for multiple modes of transportation, amongst many other inputs. So we expect that to be a very important interaction”, Ngelale said.

He disclosed further that the President will be meeting with the global CEO of Exxon Mobil Oil and Gas Company.

He noted that the federal government sees this as a major opportunity to once again lay out in detail what Nigeria has on offer with respect to the implementation of the petroleum industry Act and the fiscal and tax incentives that are being put forward by the current administration.

He said the diplomatic meeting will further advance investment in the oil and gas sector not just in terms of oil, but more in terms of gas.

“All these engagements will include bilateral meetings on the sidelines, with the President of the United States, with the President of Comoros, with the President of South Africa, with the President of the European Union Commission, with the Prime Minister of the Netherlands, with the King of Jordan, with the Algerian President, with the Brazilian President and with the Spanish Prime Minister.

“It’s still dynamic. There are some that will still be added, but it’s fair to say that within a very short few days in New York, His Excellency President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, will certainly be one of the most active and one of the most sought after heads of state with respect to his engagement in both bilateral and multilateral platforms,” he noted.

According to the Ngelale, these engagements include bilateral meetings on the sidelines with the President of the United States, Joe Biden; Comoros, Azali Assoumani, who is Chairman of the African Union; South Africa, Cyril Ramaphosa; Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva; Algeria, Abdelmadjid Tebboune; European Union Commission, Ursula von der Leyen; Dutch Prime Minister, Mark Rutte; Spanish Prime Minister, Pedro Sanchez and King Abdullah II bin Al-Hussein of Jordan, among others.