The President of Port Harcourt Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (PHCCIMA), Eze Mike Elechi, has called for the inward integration of Nigerian economy and the utilisation of  mineral resources by local industries.
Elechi disclosed this during the celebration of the 2023 World Trade Day in Port Harcourt recently.
The celebration was done in conjunction with the Institute of International Trade and Development, University of PortHarcourt.
The PHCCIMA President said the idea of a World Fair Trade Day was mooted by World Fair Trade Organisation (WFTO) in 1989.
He also said the first World Trade Day celebration took place in 2004  and was originally concepted to be celebrated every second Saturday in May, adding, countries and organisations choose separate days in the month of May.
Elechi explained that the aim of the World Trade Day was to drew the global attention to the importance of the lives of workers and small producers especially those within developing economies.
According to him,  it was achieved by the tenacious campaigns carried out by  World Trade Movement (WTM) to assert the right and raising the visibility of those who engage in production of goods and services for exchange.
The 62nd PHCCIMA boss, further noted that Nigeria and other least developed countries in Africa are  yet to benefit from the advantages of World Trade Day,  adding, what has been going on was trade deficit of the developed countries.
Earlier in his address, the Director of the Institute of International Trade and Development, University of Port Harcourt, Prof. Ijeoma Kalu,  explained that this year’s World Trade Day with the theme, “Trade As An Engine of Growth And Development”, was expected to expose how trade can help to achieve increase in the output of goods and services, welfare for the citizenry and what may not have been done rightly.
Kalu also emphasized, emerging economies like Nigeria are in dire need to seriously encourage the growth and sustenance of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises.
In his presentation, the keynote speaker, Prof Edet Bassey Akpkakpan of the Department of Economics, Akwa Ibom State University, went down memory lane on the success story of South Korea.

Akpakakpan said  for a well-fuctioning economy and the type of society Nigerians are desiring, the  country needed to show interest in the political process so as to influence the choice of representation.

The Chairman of the occasion, Sir Emeka Ezekwe of PHCCIMA in his remark highlighted the need for the Domestic and International Trade and posited  “the importance of the World Trade Day can not be overemphasized”.