Vice President Kashim Shettima has departed Abuja for Cuba to represent President Bola Tinubu at the G77+China Leaders’ Summit scheduled to hold between September 15 to 17, 2023.
This was revealed in a statement signed at around midnight between Tuesday, September 12 and Wednesday, September 13, 2023, by the State House Director of Information, Office of the Vice President, Olusola Abiola.
The statement read, “Shettima will be joining other world leaders, including the United Nations Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres at the Summit to deliberate on development issues facing members mostly from the global south.”
Shettima is accompanied on the trip by the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Abubakar Kyari; Minister of Innovation, Science and Technology, Uche Nnaji; and the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Adamu Lamuwa, amongst others.
The Summit is being hosted by the President of Cuba, Miguel Díaz-Canel, as he is the Chairman of the G77 and China,
The delegates will be deliberating under the theme, ‘Current Development Challenges: The Role of Science, Technology and Innovation.’
Vice President Shettima is expected to hold bilateral meetings on the sidelines with other world leaders to promote Nigeria’s trade and investment relations in line with the economic development diplomacy of the President Tinubu’s administration.
Nigeria is a founding member of the G77 group which was established in 1964 by 77 developing countries.
The group is consisting of 134 developing countries who represents 80 percent of the world’s population.
It aims to promote its members’ collective economic interests and create an enhanced joint negotiating capacity in the United Nations, UN.
