By Joy Odor
The Government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the Government of the Federal Republic of Indonesia have signed letter of intent to deepen bilateral defence cooperation.
The signing ceremony which was held at the Ministry of Defence Headquarters Abuja have the Minister of Defence Major General Bashir Salihi Magashi (rtd) represented by Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Defence, Ibrahim Abubakar Kana, while the Indonesian Ambassador to Nigeria, Hustra Harahap signed for Indonesia.
According to the press statement by the Special Assistant to the Minister on Media and Publicity,
Mohammad Abdulkadri, the Defence Permanent Secretary explained that the areas of cooperation contained in the letter of intent include, exchange of high ranking operational officials, promotion of education and training as well as promotion of defence industries and intelligence sharing.
He noted that the letter has articles one to three opened a new vitsa of hope in strengthening bilateral cooperation between the two countries.
Kana informed that the objective of the letter of intent is aimed at promoting defence cooperation in accordance with the prevailing laws and regulation of the two countries.
Hw assured the 5 -man Indonesian delegation that Nigeria is poised to drive the Memorandum of Understanding, MoU between the two countries.
The Permanent Secretary said the long history of robust relationship between Nigeria and Indonesia with common areas of interests as members of G-30 and G-8 countries suffice to promote a win-win deal.
Earlier, the Indonesia Ambassador to Nigeria, Dr Hustra Harahap thanked the Minister of Defence for the platform provided to sign the letter of intent.
He assured Nigeria of his country’s total commitment to abide by the articles contained in the signed document and affirmed to maintain principle of mutual respect, fairness and reciprocity.
The ceremony was witnessed on the sideline by the Director Joint Services Department Ministry of Defence, Olu Mustapha, her counterparts in the Medical, Dr Olajide Johnson, Press, Victoria Agba-atta and the Special Adviser Technical Major General Ahmed Tijani Jibrin (rtd).
In the same vein, the Indonesian Ambassador’s team included the Defence Attache, Colonel Otlow Resalino, the Minister Counsellor, Mrs Tuty Dityawanty, the Chancery Fahmi Aris and the Secretary Defence Attache Farouk Hashim.
