"USA and Anambra State Form Strategic Partnership on High-Tech and Innovation"

 

Anambra State Governor, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo CFR, and his team on Friday, January 19, 2024, held a meeting with the US Consul-General, William Stevens, and leaders of the US high-tech companies in Lagos, at the US Consulate General in Lagos State, to explore areas of possible strategic partnerships, corporate alliances, technologies collaboration and innovation.

The meeting is an opportunity to strengthen strategic partnerships for economic development, shared technologies for shared prosperity between Anambra state, Anambra tech companies, and their United States of America counterparts. 

Anambra state government has the vision to transform the state into the digital and creative capital of Nigeria, develop the Silicon Valley of Africa-Solution Innovation District and introduce the application of technologies everywhere in all aspects of life. Anambra state also proposes to interface new technologies platforms with everything and it seeks to highlight the available opportunities as well as promote the incentives from Anambra state towards attracting US firms, especially as Anambra state is already ranked as number 1 by the World Bank Index in the ease of doing business in all of southern Nigeria and number 7 in all of Nigeria's 36 states. It is noteworthy that the UNDP and Nigeria Investment Promotion Council have also selected Anambra state as one of the priority states for promotion as the major destination for global investment because of recent sustained economic reforms by the Soludo government.

The Soludo government's efforts for the development of high technology capabilities through training a new digital tribe in partnership by deploying the high technologies programs of the Solution Innovation District (SID). The SID has already impacted over 40, 000 Ndi Anambra and trained about 25, 000 youths to acquire a new variety of technology skills to enable them to be productive at home and exportable overseas. 

Governor Chukwuma Soludo and his team made presentations on the strategic plan of the state for building the innovation hub ecosystem to enable the rise of its proposed smart mega-city project. 

The Anambra state delegation to the US government hosted high technologies partnership meeting that included Commissioner for Industry; Mr. Christian Udechukwu, Special Adviser to the Governor on Innovation and Business Incubation, Ms Chinwe Okoli, and Managing Director of Anambra State ICT Agency, Chukwuemeka Fred Agbata.

The US high-tech companies present at the special event include;

1. ATC

2. Shekel Mobility Africa

3. KPMG

4. Africa Data Centers

5. Amazon

6. Amazon Web Services

7. VISA

8. Anergy

9. Microsoft

10. Coca-Cola

11. Google

12. META

13. PWC

14. SLB

15. TECHSTARS

16. VDL Technologies

17. Dell

18. HP

19. IBM

20. NCR Corporation

21. Dow Chemicals

22. Tek Experts

23. American Business Council

24. US Commercial Service

25. US Consulate General

26. Amani Health

Izuchukwu Adichie

SSA New Media to the Governor.

Lagos, Nigeria.