by SNGZ | May 31, 2015 | News
Ljubljana, July 4th, 2015
His Excellency
Muhammadu Buhari
President, Federal Republic of Nigeria
The presidency
Presidential Villa, Abuja – FCT
Nigeria.
Your Excellency,
SPECIAL MESSAGE OF FELICITATION
We, the management and entire membership of the Slovenia– Nigeria Chamber of Commerce hereby felicitate and congratulate you on your emergence as the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Federal Republic of Nigeria at the general election of March 28, 2015.
By extension, we also wish to congratulate the good people of Nigeria for peacefully exercising their franchise thereby giving you the mandate, which we consider as an eloquent testimony of their trust on your competence and ability to manage the affairs of the nation.
Consequently, we hope that your administration will bring forth a robust bilateral relationship between Nigeria and Slovenia and also lead the Nigerian Nation into an era of Peace, stability, freedom, dignity, economic growth and prosperity.
We look forward to welcoming you in Slovenia during your first official tour of Europe while putting in motion a Special Slovenian Delegation to your office for further bilateral co-operation.
We wish you a very eventful tenure.
Congratulations!
Yours faithfully
For: SLOVENIA – NIGERIA CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
Fred Uduma
President
by SNGZ | May 14, 2015 | Events, News
4TH AFRICA DAY INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE
Addressing New Development Challenges in Partnership
19–20 May 2015
(Conference working languages: English and French)
Under the aegis of the President of the National Assembly of the Republic of Slovenia
H.E. Dr Milan Brglez
The International Center for Promotion of Enterprises (ICPE) is organizing the 4th international Africa Day conference in collaboration with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Slovenia, the Club of Former Slovenian Ambassadors, the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Slovenia, and the International African Forum, to be held in Ljubljana on 19 and 20 May 2015.
Under the title ‘Addressing New Development Challenges in Partnership’, this year’s conference will bring together representatives of the political, business, academic, and cultural spheres from Slovenia and other European and African countries, as well as members of the diplomatic corps.
The two-day event will be held under the aegis of the President of the National Assembly of the Republic of Slovenia, H.E. Dr Milan Brglez. The first day, hosted by the International Center for Promotion of Enterprises, will comprise three panels focused on development cooperation, marking the European Year for Development 2015, on the interconnectedness of development, business and multiculturalism, as well as on the role of the African diaspora in the relations between Slovenia and Africa. The second day will be hosted by the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Slovenia and will be devoted to examples of good practice in development cooperation assistance, investment opportunities and intensifying business cooperation.
We would be pleased to welcome you to the conference.
For your reference please find the summary report of the successful 2014 conference that focused on the topic of investing in people HERE. Please find the program attached HERE and the concept paper HERE.
To register please click here.
For further information you can contact us at:
Phone: +386 1 568 23 31 or
email: info@icpe.int
by SNGZ | May 13, 2015 | Events, News
The EU-Africa Chamber of Commerce in partnership with Euronews as a main media partner organized and hosted the 1st edition of the EU-Africa B2B Forum in Mons (Belgium),
This high level Business-to-Business (B2B) event brought together over five hundred 500 business professionals to discuss mutual opportunities, expectations and needs. The EU-Africa B2B Forum enabled business contacts between professionals from African and European private sectors, but also between European businesses themselves. The Slovenia-Nigeria Chamber of Commerce was represented by its president Mr. Fred Uduma. The Chamber in partnership with EU-Africa Chamber of Commerce will in the future host this event in the city of Ljubljana, Slovenia. The B2B meetings took a predominant part of the event, but the EU-Africa B2B Forum also offered sessions for investment pitches and on key topics such as Energy, ICT, Mining & Raw Materials, Agro-business, Rail & Road, Business Law and Tourism.
by SNGZ | May 4, 2015 | Events, News
Today’s Business breakfast that was organised by Slovenia-Nigeria Chamber of Commerce in cooperation with Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Slovenia and Business in Africa Pays aimed to highlight Nigeria’s business environment and opportunities for cooperation with Slovenia.
The acting director of International Relations Department at Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Slovenia, Ante Milevoj, in his opening speech expressed satisfaction with the interest of Slovenian business community to do business with Nigeria, which is extremely interesting potential market, although the current Slovenian exports to Nigeria in 2014 stood at € 10 million, while exports from Nigeria to Slovenia reached only € 2,000. He stressed the fact that the CCIS in partnership SNCC will continue with its efforts to help Slovenian companies seeking to enter Nigerian market with information activities, business events, networking and integration, as well as with organizing business delegation to Nigeria which is expected for this autumn. Fred Uduma, president of the Slovenia-Nigeria Chamber of Commerce, welcomed the participants and declared the business briefing as an introduction to International trade in Nigeria designed to inform and to share insights about Importing and Exporting to Nigeria enabling companies or individuals interested in exporting to Nigeria to understand the processes, legislation’s, taxes, customs, certifications, Import and Export prohibitions and Licencing. Mr Uduma was critical about the small-scale of business cooperation between the two countries taking into account the 2014 trade volume between the two countries. He said that Slovenian companies need more information and support while making business contacts, for which was ultimately intended today’s business breakfast briefing. He emphasized on the huge business opportunities for both export and import from Nigeria. In his closing remarks, he said making the right decision when entering Import Export trade in Nigeria is paramount to your understanding of the sector and it’s regulations.
Estelle Mann, who works for a UK company Intertek and coordinator of SONCAP – Standards Organisation of Nigeria Conformity Assessment Program presented the organization SON and program SONCAP. She stressed that Exporters/Importers trading with Nigeria need to comply with the requirement of the Standards Organisation of Nigeria Conformity Assessment Program in order for their goods to clear customs, failure to do so can result in severe delays in goods clearance, penalties or even shipments being returned to shipper. The program which was first implemented in 2005 and new directives in 2013 is a set of conformity assessment and verification procedures applicable to all products imported in Nigeria except those under the exemption list. Intertek is the longest serving Conformity Assessment Program partner and approved by SON Nigeria to issue product certificates and certificates of conformity for goods exported to Nigeria.
Stephanie E. Trpkov, Management Consultant at Strategic Corporate Communications spoke about building a successful trans-national partnership between Nigeria and South-Eastern Europe. She stressed that companies, willing to enter Nigerian market, in addition to knowledge of legislation and tax regulation, customs procedures and financing, have to pay attention to cultural differences which can because of a lack of understanding sometimes complicate cooperation. Companies should consult embassies, chambers of commerce, business networks etc. for information and verification of potential business partners.
Damir Kapitanovič, head of export at Wine Cellar Goriška Brda presented their experience of exporting to Nigeria. He said Nigeria is interesting market for them as wine is the fastest growing product among alcohol beverages. He described cooperation with local partner and mentioned high import duties and lengthy procedures for obtaining relevant documents for exporting to Nigeria. The event was supported by Goriška Brda.
During the Q&A session, participants pointed out in particular the problem of obtaining entry visas for Nigerian citizens. Mr Remigius Obioma Nzewuji, Head of Chancery and Senior Counsellor Nigerian embassy to Budapest said that in current circumstances when Slovenia has no embassy in Nigeria, Nigerian business partners should explore other ways to acquire it (travelling to other schengen countries and visiting Slovenia). He advised on particular questions of Slovenian IT company.
The event was closed with interaction among participants and a test of Goriška Brda finest champagne.
