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Nigeria is number one importer in Africa, WTO declares

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The World Trade Organization (WTO), on Friday, announced that Nigeria is the number one importer of commercial services in Africa in 2020.

WTO disclosed this in a data released on Friday.

The international trade organisation headquartered in Geneva ranked Nigeria as the 25th commercial importer in the world, but the first commercial importer in Africa, followed by Egypt which was positioned 28th in the world.

While Egypt and Morocco made the list of world exporters headed by the United States, Nigeria was obviously missing in the worldwide list of commercial exporters.

The United States also positioned first in the list of commercial importers followed by China, United Kingdom and Japan; while the United States, United Kingdom, China and India topped the list of exporters.

The World Trade Organization (WTO) stated that initial assessments were depended on quarterly figures.

It said, “Figures for the number of countries and territories have been estimated by the Secretariat.”

“Data for 2020 are not yet available for the United Arab Emirates. In 2019, commercial services exports were valued at US$72 billion and imports at US$73 billion.”

The World Trade Organization (WTO) is an intergovernmental organisation that controls and aids international trade between countries.

It officially started operations on 1 January 1995, pursuant to the 1994 Marrakesh Agreement, thus replacing the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) that had been established in 1948.

The functions of WTO include overseeing the implementation, administration and operation of the covered agreement. It also provides a forum for negotiations and for settling disputes, among others.

The Director-General of the World Trade Organization is Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala. She took office on 1 March 2021, becoming the first woman and the first African to serve as Director-General.

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