Mr.Will Stevens, the United States Counsul General in Nigeria said that Rivers State has incredible untapped potential for trade and investment between Nigeria and America.
Steven said this on Thursday in a statement issued by Mr Kelvin Ebiri, the Special Assistant on Media to Gov Nyesom Wike in Port Harcourt.
The Consul General during the discussion with Gov. Wike, said United States Government was impressed with the growth rate of Rivers State economy.
Stevens noted that Rivers economy was the second largest in Nigeria, saying that with robust partnership between Rivers and the U.S. government, they stood a chance of benefitting tremendously.
Stevens made the remark when Wike conducted him round some critical projects being prepared for inauguration in the state.
Stevens said he had a wonderful opportunity to visit and inspect the Dr. Peter Odili Cancer and Cardiovascular Disease Diagnostic and Treatment Centre in Rumuokwuta community.
He said the brand new specialist hospital was clearly a world-class facility with world-class equipment installed.
“It is heartening to see so many U.S. companies well represented here. It is really a testimony of the impact that U.S. technology is having in Nigeria and around the world as we work together to save lives,” he said.
He said that he wanted to see what Dr. Peter Odili Cancer and Cardiovascular Disease Diagnostic and Treatment Centre looked like.
He this would enable him to go back to American companies and talk about the operating environment and attract U.S. investment and partnership in helping to run the hospital.
“We will see what we can do, and come back to talk to U.S. firms that are already operating in healthcare space and see if we can support that.”
“I talked yesterday with the governor about the fight against HIV/AIDS. The State went from 17 per cent of the population that are positive with HIV on treatment to 97 per cent.
“We have saved over 100,000 people out of treatment because of our work together with the U.S government through CDCs, PEP Fund programme and this is just one more expression that I’m very grateful to be here.”