By Princess-Ekwi Ajide, Abuja
The Federal Government of Nigeria has signed letter of intent to deepen bilateral defence cooperation with the Government of of Indonesia
The signing ceremony held at the Ministry of Defence Headquarters, Ship House Abuja, where the Minister of Defence Maj Gen Bashir Salihi Magashi (rtd), represented by the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Defence, Dr Ibrahim Abubakar Kana, signed for Nigeria while the Indonesian Ambassador to Nigeria, Dr Hustra Harahap signed for Indonesia.
According to the parties, the objective of the letter of intent is to promote defence cooperation in accordance with the prevailing laws and regulation of the two countries.
A statement signed by the Special Assistant to the Minister of Defence on Media and Publicity, Mohammad Abdulkadri, noted 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 saying they affirmed to maintain principle of mutual respect, fairness and reciprocity.
The Permanent Secretary Dr. Ibrahim Abubakar Kana, explained that signing of the letter of intent which has articles one to three opened a new vitsa of hope in strenghtening bilateral cooperation between the two countries.
He assured the 5 -man Indonesian delegation that Nigeria is poised to driving the Memorandum of Understanding, MoU between the two countries.
Dr. Kana, 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.
The Indonesia Ambassador to Nigeria Dr Hustra Harahap while thanking the Minister of Defence for the platform provided to sign the letter of intent, assured Nigeria of his country’s total commitment to abiding by the articles contained in the signed document.
The ceremony was witnessed 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) on the Nigeria side.
On the Indonesian side include, the Defence Attache, Colonel Otlow Resalino, the Minister Counsellor,Mrs Tuty Dityawanty, the Chancery Fahmi Aris and the Secretary Defence Attache Farouk Hashim among others.
