09-08-2018
On August 9, 2018 the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Belarus, Andrei Dapkiunas, met with the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to the Russian Federation and the Republic of Belarus non-resident, Steve Davies Ugbah.
Background Information: Ambassador Ugba visited Belarus several times after he had presented Credentials to the President of Belarus in early 2018, and today he is one of the most active African non-resident Ambassadors accredited in Belarus.
During the meeting, the sides discussed the state of friendly relations between Belarus and Nigeria and the ways of their progressive development.
Special attention was paid to the opportunities of a significant increase in supplies of complex machinery and other Belarusian products to the capacious Nigerian market with high demand for tractors and agricultural techniques. Both sides stressed the importance of creating favorable conditions for direct contacts between representatives of business circles of the two countries. The Deputy Minister and the Ambassador agreed that long-term strategies should be developed by the Belarusian exporters in order to enter and gain firm foothold in one of the largest and most promising in Africa national market of Nigeria, which is characterized by high degree of competition, diverse supply and wide demand.
The interlocutors recognized the development of a large-scale cooperation in the field of education of Nigerian students at Belarus universities, as an important direction of bilateral interaction.
Background Information: Nigeria is the leader among all African countries in terms of the number of students who study at Belarusian universities.
Belarusian and Nigerian diplomats discussed the issue of high-level visits and agreed on the need to intensify their preparation in order to give new impetus to mutually beneficial cooperation. The sides also discussed the continuation of the practice of consultations between the Ministries of Foreign Affairs and the revitalization of inter-parliamentary contacts.