- India and Nigeria on Tuesday vowed to deepen cooperation to counter terrorism, insurgency and piracy while also boosting trade exchanges as External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar held talks with his Nigerian counterpart Geoffrey Onyeama.
- A joint communique issued after the talks said the discussions covered a wide spectrum of cooperation on political, economic and trade, defense and security, developmental assistance and cultural cooperation.
- Both sides recalled their extensive cooperation in the field of defence training and capacity building, and expressed satisfaction that it was expanding to newer areas such as
- defence equipment support, medical and maintenance services, sharing of Research and Development expertise for counter-terrorism and counter-insurgency, and regular exchange of information.
- The two ministers acknowledged the ongoing collaborative efforts through information sharing between the Indian and Nigerian navies, and increase of surveillance for maritime security in the Gulf of Guinea though collaboration between the two navies.
- With a bilateral trade turnover of USD 13.9 billion in 2019-20, India is Nigeria’s largest trading partner, and Nigeria is India’s largest trading partner in Africa.
- Nigeria is a leading energy security partner of India, and both sides agreed to strengthen their cooperation in this sector including at the Government to Government level.
- Both sides also agreed to expand cooperation in Information Technology (IT), Defense and solar energy projects to be executed through Indian Line of Credit (LoC).
- The two sides also agreed to further strengthen cooperation in consular matters and the desire to conclude bilateral agreements in the fields of Mutual Legal Assistance, Extradition Treaty and the Transfer of Sentenced Persons.
