By Abba Hamisu Sani
Africa-Press – Nigeria. Poland and Nigeria has history of diplomatic relationship since 1961.
Recent visit to Nigeria by the Polish President Andrzej Duda marked another mile stone in strengthening relationship between the two Countries.
During the visit President Buhari of Nigeria and his guest Duda had discussed on how the two Countries could strengthen bilateral cooperation especially in the area of food security and energy.
Buhari and Duda address Press in Abuja
Addressing a joint press conference with the visiting Polish President Buhari said Nigeria is gratified by the existing fruitful cooperation with Poland in the fields of maritime, education and defence.
On agriculture, which is one of the priority areas of the Nigerian government, the President said cooperation in this area will be a win-win for the two countries, especially in the context of global food insecurity occasioned by the conflict in Ukraine.
He noted that in view of the numerous global challenges, Nigeria would like to develop new mechanisms for cooperation including regular strategic dialogues and political consultations to cover not only bilateral relations but also to address regional and international issues.
Buhari said Nigeria’s cooperation with Poland in education sector has a long history and Nigeria wish to encourage the extension of that cooperation.
Such include sharing experience between our educational institutions in the areas of science and technology as well as Information and Communication Technology, in order to help drive innovation in our countries in this competitive global knowledge economy.
Describing the two-day visit of the Polish President as significant, underscoring the cordial relations that exist between both countries, President Buhari commended the efforts of the Government of Poland in providing assistance to the large number of refugees fleeing the conflict in Ukraine, including a significant number of Nigerians.
“We also appreciate greatly the opportunity given to some of our nationals to remain in Poland to continue with their studies”
With regards to trade relations, Buhari said Nigeria would like to see an increase in the level of trade, as it remains relatively low in spite of the long period of relations between the two countries.
The Nigerian leader welcomed the idea of hosting a Dialogue that brought together various members of the business sectors of Nigeria and Poland, during the State Visit, adding that it is an excellent initiative to increase the level of trade between both countries.
The Polish President Duda said Nigeria was the only African country Poland has signed an agreement of strategic dialogue with, which includes the MoU on agricultural cooperation.
Duda added that It is important to strengthen the relations between Poland and Nigeria.
On energy security, he lauded the delivery of liquefied natural gas to Poland from Nigeria, as well as shipments of crude oil.
“We want to further this cooperation and we want to increase the supplies from Nigeria to Poland and in this way we want to contribute to the development of economic cooperation between the two countries,” he said.
Mr. Duda said the 10 most pivotal aspects that the two leaders raised in their conversation during the visit both in their private tet-a-tet as well as during the plenary session was on how to provide food security and energy security as he said nowadays both of these topics, of course, stem from the situation that they faced in Europe and to be more precise in his own part of Europe .
He describe it as very important for the future of the two Countries relationship, but also for the future of the food security in Nigeria at large. It can also contribute to the modernization and increase the efficiency of the Nigerian economy and Nigerian agriculture but it also can serve as a vehicle for sharing experiences.
Speaking about the natural resources the polish president said Nigeria is indeed very wealthy in that respect.
During the visit Buhari and Duda signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU ) on Agriculture as both leaders pledge their willingness to enlarge the fields of economic cooperation in the energy and Manufacturing sectors.
What Nigeria and Polish Stand to gain from such Visit
The analyst said Nigeria need to forge relationship with Powerful Countries like Poland as the Country is facing various security threat.
He also stated that the essence of establishing every diplomatic relation between two Countries is base on achieving strategic interest of the Countries Concerned.
On how to achieve the agreements signed by Poland and Nigeria, he said Nigeria in Particular need to put more seriousness as it need more support from a Strong Country like Poland.
He said Poland have the technical know how in terms of Security soft and hard wears which Nigeria need to benefit.
Bash M. Bash also said on Agriculture which he described as the main stay of every nation Nigeria will benefit a lot from the expertise of Poland.
Bashir Muhammad Bashir urged the present Nigerian Government and the successive administrations to put more effort in implementing these bilateral.
The Bilateral is like two side of a Coin
The International Affairs analyst says the two Countries are going to benefit from the agreements that include Agricultural culture ,Energy and Security as European Countries need more business partners from other part of the World particularly Africa as Ukraine faces war with Russia which highly reduced the supply of Gas to European Countries.
He added that Nigeria as the number one economy in Africa and a Country with highest Population need more Friends that will help in reducing series of security and economic challenges faced by the Nation.
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