Nigeria and Russia have agreed to cooperate on industrial, economic and military activities. The Russian president Mr. Dmitry Medvedev visits Nigeria for the first time to hold talks of possible Nuclear energy, Oil and military cooperation.
According to Russia’s nuclear energy agency Rosatom, the protocol forcasts the possibility of bilateral cooperation for the development of Nigeria’s nuclear infrastructure and the joint exploration and exploitation of uranium deposits.
“International issues would be on the agenda but primarily, the visit would be about bilateral cooperation. We would like to give a very strong political impetus to our interaction in different fields. First of all in the area of economy and investment we would aim to bring the Russian Nigerian partnership to a completely new level. Maybe it can be in strategic partnership. Other potential areas of cooperation will also be discussed, including military and technical cooperation,” said Alexander Polyakov, Russia’s envoy to Nigeria.
The visit of President Medvedev will be the first ever by a head of state of the Russian Federation as an immense cooperation grows between the two countries. President Medvedev was invited by President Umaru Yar’Adua following talks on the sidelines of the Group of Eight (G8) industrialized powers that took place last year in Japan.
Nigerian presidential spokesman Olusegun Adeniyi believes there is much to gain from closer ties with Russia given its oil and gas industry. A nuclear energy cooperation accord will be signed on Wednesday, 23 June, 2009, and a joint venture between Russian oil and gas giant Gasprom and Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) will also be signed during the one day visit.
The nuclear agreement is for cooperation in the peaceful use of nuclear energy especially for the purpose of electricity claimed the presidential spokesman.
