The maiden Summit on Non-Oil Exports under the Race to US$200 Billion in Foreign Exchange (FX) Repatriation (RT200) programme launched in February 2022 by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), in collaboration with the Bankers’ Committee, holds in Lagos on Thursday, June 16, 2022.

With the theme, “Setting the Roadmap toward Achieving RT200 and Non-Oil Export for Development,” the forum will focus on the current situation in the economy, the commitment to addressing the challenges as well as driving the development and improvement of the non-oil export sector.

A statement issued on Tuesday by the Director, Corporate Communications Department of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Osita Nwanisobi, disclosed that the one-day summit specifically seeks to identify challenges across the non-oil export value chain from the perspectives of all stakeholder groups as well as provide understanding of the current situation and the implications to Nigerian citizens and the economy as a basis for urgent action.

The statement listed other objectives of the summit to include understanding trends and lessons from other countries including regional and global market outlook; share best practices across the agriculture exporting value chain and guidance on how to obtain financial assistance and to identify opportunities for improving the performance and viability of non-oil exports. Ultimately, it said the CBN and its partners, through the summit, seek to launch the development of a comprehensive Non-Oil Export Optimisation framework.

The summit, which is expected to extract voluntary commitments, and initiatives to support the non-oil Export Renewal Plan, will feature a keynote by the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr. Godwin Emefiele, as well as expert presentations and panel discussions to address the country’s current non-oil export sector situation and proffer recommendations.

Participants at the summit will cut across stakeholders in the non-oil sector including but not limited to the mineral resources, manufacturing and agricultural export sectors including primary agriculture players; aggregators, storage, logistics and freight transport operators; exporters; road transport agencies; security agencies and government ministries at Federal and State levels.

It will be recalled that the CBN and the Bankers’ Committee in February 2022 unveiled the RT200 programme, a set of plans, policies, and programmes designed to increase the nation’s earnings exclusively from non-oil exports to US$200 billion in FX repatriation, within the next five years.

The RT200 initiative is designed to be implemented through five anchors: Value Adding Exports Facility (VEF); Non-Oil Commodities Expansion Facility (NCEF); Non-Oil FX Rebate Scheme (NFRS); Dedicated Non-Oil Export Terminal; and the hosting of a Bi-annual Non-Oil Export Summit.

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