Abuja — The Minister of State for Defence, Alhaji Abdulrahman Adamu has thanked the Serbian government for training Nigeria military and civilians while looking forward to signing a Memorandum of Understanding on Defence by both countries.

The minister spoke on Friday in his office while receiving the Serbia ambassador.

According to him, "I want to assure that the relationship existing between the two countries is highly treasured and we want to build on it. Also, we thank your country for assistance rendered to us in training both our military personnel and civilians.

"We are satisfied with what is on ground and want you to look at them, if satisfied, to fix a date for the of the Memorandum of Understanding because without signing it nothing is binding.

Earlier, the minister of Foreign Affairs of Serbia, Vuk Jeremic, who was appointed to his present post in 2007 at the age of 30, noted that bilateral relations between both countries was excellent.

The minister also noted that though there was a break in military and defence cooperation between both countries in the past due to problems in the Balkans, the signing of the MoU will rectify grey areas.

Jeremic, who was accompanied by the Serbia Ambassador to Nigeria, Rifat Kondic, said he will be glad to host a delegation from Nigeria that will visit defence facilities in his country.

Serbia, it would be recalled, was one of the countries that made up former Yugoslavia where the Non-Aligned Movement of which Nigeria is a member was founded 50 years ago.