18.04.2013.
Cooperation with Nigeria
Assistant Minister for Defence Policy Miroslav Jovanovic has met today with the Nigerian Ambassador in Belgrade Harold Augustus Coco. The meeting was held to prepare the upcoming visit of the study group of the National Defence Academy of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to Serbia from 11 to 18 May 2013, whose coordinator and implementing agency will be the Ministry of Defence of the Republic of Serbia. Subject of the study tour is Building Peace after the development of national conflicts in Serbia: Lessons for Nigeria''.Programme of the visit is intended to inform the students and the staff of the Academy about the objectives of defence and foreign policy, military strategy and the defence system of Serbia and to visit the General Staff of the Serbian Armed Forces, Military Academy, Army Command, River Flotilla and the Air Force and Air Defence Command, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and other organizations and institutions of importance in the Republic of Serbia, defence industry factories, cultural, historical and tourist facilities.
Jovanovic thanked Nigeria for its principled position not to recognize the unilaterally proclaimed independence of Kosovo and Metohija and for supporting dialogue and peaceful resolution of the problem.
He expressed the wish that in the forthcoming period, according to the common needs and interests, as well as the signed Defence Cooperation Agreement, the cooperation between the two countries is intensified at all levels, especially between the two ministries of defence.
The Assistant Minister for Defence Policy has conveyed the interest of the Ministry of Defence of the Republic of Serbia to establish defence cooperation in the areas of common interest such as the exchange of experiences from the participation in peacekeeping missions, military medical and military economic cooperation.Ambassador Coco thanked for the professional approach and engagement of the Ministry of Defence of the Republic of Serbia regarding the realisation of the visit of the study group of the Nigerian National Defence Academy. He expressed the interest in Nigeria for the implementation of the Defence Cooperation Agreement and exchange of high level delegations in order to improve cooperation between the two ministries.
Coco pointed out that the relations between the two countries have been very good and friendly since the formation of the Non-Aligned Movement, and confirmed that Nigeria remains consistent with its position and policy regarding the resolution of Kosovo issue.
