[dropcap]T[/dropcap]urkey’s Sur International Textile is set to produce uniforms for the Nigerian Army as it plans to revive a textile factory in Kaduna, Nigeria, Per Second News gathered in Ankara.
Sur International, in cooperation with the New Nigeria Development Company (NNDC), a local consortium, will invest and resume production at the Kaduna Textile Limited, which was shut in 2002 following a financial crisis in 2000. Kaduna Textile, once a major manufacturer in Nigeria, was founded in 1957 and employed more than 5,000 people.
The initiative came as Nigeria, plans to revive some of its old textile factories that have fallen into disuse or have been closed due to financial or energy crisis.
For the project, the Nigerian government has formed a consortium, of which 45 percent is owned by the state, 35 is controlled by Sur International and the rest 20 percent is owned by the facilities previous partners.
The consortium will reportedly invest around $15 million to revive the facility.
The factory will start operating next year and will produce uniforms for Nigerian military and paramilitary forces.
Sur International has the knowhow and experience in producing military uniforms. It has been producing uniforms for the Sudanese army for more than thirteen years. The Qatari Armed Forces also joined Sur International Investment Co. Ltd. as a partner in 2013.
Speaking at the the ninth Developing 8 (D-8) summit in Istanbul on Friday Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan calls for trade in local currencies among D-8 nations.
“If we open the way to using our national currencies, we will have made important steps. I want to unite our Central Banks to set up a clearing house,” he added.
“In terms of facilitating trade, we place importance on visas and customs agreements. We can venture into various field joint production projects, especially in the defense industry. We have great potential in every field from education to transport. We must take steps to speed up the decision-making process. I believe we should strengthen our organization with new members. The voting process could become clogged with unanimity,” he continued.
The ninth summit marks the 20th anniversary of the organization.
On June 15, 1997, the D-8 was established after Turkish Prime Minister Necmettin Erbakan proposed the formation of an economic group consisting of eight emerging economies from the Muslim world.
Alongside Turkey, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Egypt, Iran, Malaysia, Nigeria and Pakistan created an organization based in Istanbul.
Today, the organization has a combined GDP of $3.7 trillion and includes more than one billion people — around 15 percent of the world’s population.
Two of its members — Turkey and Indonesia — are among the group of the world’s 20 biggest economies.
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