Nigeria and Spain have signed three agreements in the areas of culture and tourism, establishment of bi-national commission and the avoidance of double taxation on goods.
The Nigerian ministers of culture, foreign affairs and finance, Bello Gada, Ojo Maduekwe and Mansur Muktar, respectively, signed the agreements on Tuesday in the capital Abuja. On behalf of Spain, Foreign Minister Muituel Moratinos signed the documents.
Speaking at the Nigeria-Spain Investment Forum organized by the Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission in Abuja, visiting Spanish Prime Minister Jose Zapatero said exports from Nigeria to Spain amounted to 4.6 billion euros (6.4 billion U.S. dollars) in 2008.
Zapatero, who is on a four-day visit to Nigeria, said bilateral trade between Nigeria and Spain had been mostly in oil and gas, adding that Spain was poised to expand to other sectors in the years to come.
He described Nigeria as Spain's main energy supplier, noting that his country is Nigeria's second client only after the United States in energy.
Zapatero voiced commitment to expanding investments in Nigeria's electricity, infrastructure, transportation, health and education in line with the 7-point agenda of the government.
He said Spain was highly skilled in sanitation and water treatment, renewable energy and infrastructure.
Carlos Martinez, an investor in the business delegation, told the forum that Spanish businessmen were excited by the new possibilities of trade with Nigerians.
"We want to show you that we are not only good in buying oil and gas, like our Prime Minister mentioned, we are also good in other sectors of the economy," he said.
Martinez said his company, specializing in building cities and infrastructure, had an agreement with three states in Nigeria to build cities.
"We are negotiating with three state governments and we hope to sign the agreements soon to build their cities with first class infrastructure," he said.
Earlier, Nigeria's Minister of State for Commerce and Industry Humphrey Abah said the Nigerian federal government had put in place good governance initiative to attract investments.
He said the initiative included transparency and accountability, due process and the Nigerian Extractive Industry Transparency initiative.
Abah also pledged investments opportunities in energy, minerals, oil and gas, infrastructure such as air, rail and sea, telecommunications, agriculture and manufacturing.
At a joint press conference with President Umaru Yar'Adua, the Spanish Prime minister said his country was ready to support Nigeria in its quest to secure a UN permanent seat.
He decried the non-representation of Africa at the UN Security Council, describing it as a gross injustice given the fact that 30 percent of the council's deliberations focused on the continent.
Zapatero, who is the first Spanish Premier to visit Nigeria, noted with appreciation the contributions of Nigeria and other African countries to the several UN-backed peace keeping missions.
He expressed support for the West African country's Vision 20: 2020 which seeks to make Nigeria one of the 20 largest economies in the world by the year 2020.
He regretted the prevalence of illegal migration of Africans to Spain and European countries despite the opportunities of legal immigration offered and supported by Spanish authorities.
The Spanish leader attributed part of the problem to the situation in the African countries.
Meanwhile, he offered assistance in health, agriculture, skills acquisition and training.
Spain spent more than 1.4 billion euros (2 billion dollars) last year on various humanitarian programs as part of efforts to improve relations with Nigeria and other African countries, he said.
The amount was spent on procurement and distribution of vaccines to about one million children, school feeding for more than 12 million pupils and improving gender equality, Zapatero added.