07.03.2011.

The visit of the Nigerian minister of defense

Minister of Defense Dragan Sutanovac met in the House of Guards in Topcider with the Nigerian Minister of Defense Prince Adetokunbo Kayode This meeting of the two officials was used to sign the Bilateral Military Cooperation Agreement between the two countries.

In a cordial and friendly atmosphere, the talks focused on cooperation in defense industry, military education and military health-care and multinational peacekeeping operations.

Minister Sutanovac expressed his pleasure with the visit of the Nigerian delegation, which in his words is the second meeting of the defense ministers of the two countries in the last five years, which points to the need of establishing closer ties between the two armies and states.

Further on, Minister Sutanovac remarked that the cooperation inherited from 1990s was very fruitful and good, expressing his expectations that the newly-inked agreement would improve the relations even more and make them more concrete .

Sutanovac emphasized that the main topic of discussion was the military economic cooperation, adding that Nigeria was interested in procuring equipment and weaponry from Serbia, as well as in making joint investments in this area. Another area of interest was in the field of military education and medicine. Serbia is interested, as he remarked, in the experiences that Nigeria has in the area of peacekeeping operations, reminding that this country had just sent some 2 million members of its armed forces into peace keeping operations.

Further on, in his statement to the media, he pointed out that there was talks not only about cooperation regarding military issues, but in economy as well, stressing that option for the delegation of the Republic of Serbia and the Serbian Chamber of Commerce to visit this country would be given detailed consideration in order to assess the possibilities for mutually beneficial economic cooperation.

Minister Kayode agreed with Minister Sutanovac that Nigeria had a vested interest in cooperation and joint investments into the defense industry as well as the transfer of technologies from Serbia. He also pointed out that Serbia was widely known for its extremely well renowned military medicine and top quality military education, adding that an exchange of personnel should be organized at all levels.

Kayode reminded that the Nigerian peacekeeping center had been awarded the Excellence Certificate by the United nations, for Nigeria is one of the countries which makes the largest contribution in international peacekeeping operations, expressing his readiness to share the Nigerian experiences with the Serbian Armed Forces.

The Nigerian minister of defense stressed that it was necessary to develop partnership in other commercial fields as well, commending and welcoming Minister Sutanovac’s initiative regarding the possibility of the Republic of Serbia’s delegation visiting Nigeria, while he expressed a desire that he should pay a return visit as soon as possible.