Context:
India’s External affairs minister co-chaired the 6th Joint Commission Meeting between India and Nigeria at Abuja, Nigeria.
EAM Jaishankar Co-Chaired the 6th India-Nigeria Joint Commission Meeting
- Both Countries agreed to strengthen the efforts in the sectors of power, renewables, transport, healthcare, fintech, agriculture and security, including people-to-people exchange, energy, mobility and consular cooperations.
- Stressed on expanding economic cooperation, especially trade and investment between the two countries.
About India Nigeria Relations: Economic, Development, and Defense Cooperation
India Nigeria Economic Cooperation
- The Bilateral trade volume between Nigeria and India has fallen from US$ 14.95 billion in 2021-22 to US$ 11.8 billion in 2022-23.
- This is mainly because of a decrease in the volume of oil purchased from Nigeria.
- Nigeria has become India’s largest trading partner in West Africa and around $20 billion is India’s investment in Nigeria.
India Nigeria Energy Cooperation
- Nigeria is one of the leading suppliers of crude oil to India about 12% of India’s oil imports is based in Nigeria.
India Nigeria Development Cooperation
- Two agreements for extension of Lines of Credit @ US$ 30 million for a gas-fired turbine electricity generation station in Cross River State of Nigeria and @ US$ 31.05 million for 3 sub-projects including 2×60 MVA transmission substation, solar-powered street lights and 50kVA mini-grids in Kaduna State of Nigeria are under implementation.
- Since 1964, India has supported Nigeria’s capacity-building efforts under the Indian Technical and 7 Economic Cooperation (ITEC) Programme. India annually offers Nigeria about 250 civilian and 250 defense training slots under ITEC/e-ITEC.
India Nigeria Defense Cooperation
- This is integral to the strategic partnership between India and Nigeria.
- Among the areas of cooperation include counter-terrorism and counterinsurgency (CT/CI), sea piracy and exchange of visits between training institutes.
- India has been providing training, capacity building & supplying defense equipment to the Nigerian defense forces.
- The National Defense Academy at Kaduna symbolizes our army cooperation.
NRI/PIO Community in Nigeria
The Indian community in Nigeria is estimated to be about 50,000 persons, including Indian nationals and Overseas Citizens of India (OCI) card holders.
South-South Cooperation
- India and Nigeria play an important role in South-South cooperation.
- The struggle against colonialism and apartheid in the formative years after the independence of the two countries laid a strong foundation for the engagement of the two countries.
- In the multilateral organizations particularly the United Nations, G77 and NAM, both countries have been articulating the voice of the developing world in a coordinated and effective manner.
About Nigeria
- It is officially recognised as the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
- It is a West African country located between the Sahel in the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the South, along the Atlantic Ocean.
- It is the most populous nation & largest economy on the African continent.
- It is a very diverse Nation which consists of more than 250 ethnic groups and out of them Hausa, Yoruba, and Igbo are predominant.
|
News Source: The Hindu
23 Jan 2024
