Brazil and Nigeria have strengthened business ties recently. Officials from the respective ministries of trade met in Abuja and signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to buffer cooperation on trade and investment yesterday.

Olusegun Aganga, the minister of Industry, Trade and Investment of Nigeria, said that the agreement will strengthen trade pertaining to sugarcane, agriculture, power, and cars to name a few. According to Aganga, Nigeria exports a great amount of crude oil to Brazil and Brazil can offer much in the way of “sugar and automobile development.”

He outlined an objective to double trade over the next two years, but lamented the obstacles to promoting exchange between the two countries including lack of direct flights between Brazil and Nigeria. Ricardo Shaefer of Brazil’s Development, Industry and Foreign Trade remarked that these type of development challenges would also be alleviated by increased cooperation.

The meeting didn’t just serve to highlight the cooperative but to also announce Nigeria’s decision to foster domestic investment. Aganga disclosed that the Nigerian government cut business registration fees in country by 50 percent to spur investments and to position Nigeria overall as a more attractive country for local and foreign investors.