12 billion worth of crude, India turns largest importer of Nigeria crude oil- Envoy

India’s Acting High Commissioner in Nigeria Kaisar Alam on Sunday said the trade volume between Nigeria and India reached 17 billion dollars from April 2013 to March 2014.

Speaking in Abuja, he said India imported 14 billion-dollar worth of goods from Nigeria during the year while Nigeria imported three billion-dollar worth of goods from India in the same period.

Alam explained that India was currently the largest importer of Nigeria’s crude oil, importing 12 billion-dollar worth of the product in the year under review.

``India imported 14 billion-dollar worth of goods from Nigeria from April 2013 to March 2014, including 12 billion-dollar worth of crude oil,’’ he said.

He also explained that with the reduction of U.S. import of Nigeria’s crude oil, India was currently Nigeria’s largest trading partner.

According to him, a large number of Indian companies and businesses have footprints in Nigeria, which have made substantial investments in Nigeria.

The envoy explained that the increasing trade relations between the two countries would boost trade volume in 2014-2015 fiscal year.

He said that the relations between the two countries had always been friendly, noting that ``Nigeria is a very important country to India.’’

He expressed the optimism that the bilateral relations between Nigeria and India would improve significantly in the current year.