Nigeria, Lebanon to partner on Diaspora investment

Lebanon Ambassador to Nigeria, Ambassador Houssam Diak, says his country and Nigeria will collaborate to explore the potential of their Diaspora components for the development of both countries.
The envoy stated this when he visited the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Foreign Affairs and Diaspora, Abike Dabiri-Erewa, in Abuja on Tuesday.
Diak said: “We speak on possible cooperation about Lebanon and Nigerians in Diaspora and how to take advantage of the potential of our people outside the countries, our experts on investment level and our achievement level.
“We are thinking of having something together in future that could be of benefit to Nigeria and Lebanon diaspora with the benefit of Nigeria.”
Diak said that his country had a Diaspora initiative at its Ministry of Foreign Affairs that oversaw conferences across the world.
He said: “We have Lebanese diaspora which is the body established at the Foreign Affairs Ministry, in charge of conferences outside Lebanon. In Nigeria, next month (March), there will be a conference on Lebanese Diaspora.
“And, every year the ministry convenes a conference on Lebanese Diaspora in the five continents to take care of the potential of Lebanese Diaspora in those countries.”
Responding, Dabiri-Erewa commended the ambassador for the visit and said that there were a lot of things that the two countries could do together on Diaspora matter.
She said: “We look forward to partner you and beside that, we have a huge number of Lebanese Diaspora in Nigeria.
“Looking at the key issue you have said, especially on investment and a lot of things we can do together, we look forward to working with you for the benefit of both countries and its Diaspora.”