Nigeria’s Vice President jets out to Cuba to represent Tinubu at G77 summit

The Nigerian Vice-President Kashim Shettima has on Wednesday departed the country to represent President Bola Tinubu at the G77+China Leaders’ Summit in Havana, Cuba.

The summit will be held from September 15 to 17.

In a statement, the vice-president’s media aide, Olusola Abiola, said Mr Shettima would join other world leaders at the event, including the UN secretary general, Antonio Guterres.

The statement said the summit would hold focus on development challenges facing members, mostly from the global south among others.

“The summit will equally explore proactive ways of addressing challenges facing the development of the member-states leveraging science, technology and innovation to enhance socio-economic growth,” it noted.

It added, “Also, Shettima will, on the sidelines of the summit, hold bilateral meetings with other world leaders to promote Nigeria’s trade and investment relations in line with the economic development diplomacy of the President Bola Tinubu administration.”

Cuba’s President Miguel Díaz-Canel will host the Havana Summit in his capacity as chairman of the G77.

The theme of the summit is ‘Current Development Challenges: The Role of Science, Technology and Innovation’.

Nigeria is a founding member of the G77 group established in 1964 by 77 developing countries.

“The group, a coalition of 134 developing countries with 80 per cent of world population, aims to promote its members’ collective economic interests and create an enhanced joint negotiating capacity in the United Nations,” the statement said.

The Vice President was accompanied by Agriculture and Rural Development Minister Abubakar Kyari, Innovation, Science and Technology Minister Uche Nnaji, and Foreign Affairs Ministry Permanent Secretary Adamu Lamuwa.