Leadership (Abuja)
Atang Izang
15 October 2007
The prime minister of India, Dr. Manmohan Singh, will today address a joint session of the two houses of the National Assembly in Abuja after meeting with President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua in the presidential villa.
Singh arrived Nigeria yesterday in order to forge and consolidate closer bilateral relations between India and Nigeria.
He arrived aboard a chartered plane, Air India Boeing 747-400 VT-ESN, and was received at the presidential wing of the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, by the minister of foreign
affairs, Chief Ojo Maduekwe, in company of other federal government functionaries, and the Indian High Commissioner to Nigeria, Mr HHS Viswanathan.
The prime minister was accompanied on the trip by his musician wife, Gursharan Kaur; India's minister of state for external affairs, Anand Sharma; minister of state for mines; T. Subbarama Reddy; national security adviser, M.K. Narayan; secretary (west ) in the External Affairs Ministry, Nalin Sure, commerce secretary, GK Pillai; defence secretary, Vijay Singh, and petroleum secretary, M.S. Sriniwasan.
Briefing the media on the historic and maiden visit of the Indian premier, Maduekwe said the visitor will discuss three important issues, namely trade and investments, consular relations and the signing of three memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Yar'Adua.
The minister noted that the prime minister's visit is aimed at consolidating bilateral ties.
"It is also a step to consolidate our ties in the multilateral field in view of our common membership of Group 77, South-South Cooperation and the Commonwealth," he said.
Elaborating on the three MOUs, Maduekwe said when they are signed, they will focus on consultation between the two countries' foreign ministries, collaboration between two institutions of international affairs, and cooperation between the foreign service academies in the two countries.
In addition, it is also expected that the Abuja Declaration on Strategic Partnership between India and Nigeria will be signed.
Nigeria-India diplomatic relations spanned over 50 years, but formal relations were established in 1962.
India established its diplomatic presence in Nigeria in 1958 in anticipation of this country's independence.
The 69-year-old Dr Singh is an economist by profession. He was elected as the 14th prime minister of India in May 2004. A member of Indian National Congress, he is the first Sikh to become prime minister of India. He is regarded as the most educated prime minister of India in history.
Singh is on the first leg of a two-nation visit to Africa. He is first India prime minister to visit Nigeria on bilateral issues since Jawaharlal Nehru's 1962 visit. Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee visited in 2003 but for a Commonwealth Summit.
Singh was reported to have said in a pre-departure statement in Delhi that his journey to this country signified India's desire to "reinvigorate its ties with not only our friend and brother, Nigeria, but the entire African continent.
"As developing countries with a similar historical experience, we face common challenges of nation building," he said.
Bilateral trade between Nigeria and India is of the order of US$9 billion this year.
Singh is scheduled to leave for South Africa to attend a second three-nation summit of IBSA (India, Brazil and South Africa) on Wednesday.
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