In order to enlarged economic cooperation in the energy and manufacturing sectors, Nigeria and Poland on Tuesday signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on Agriculture.
The agreement was signed in Abuja during the State visit Poland President, Andrezej Duda, the first by a Polish leader to Nigeria since the establishment of diplomatic relations between both countries in 1961.
Addressing a joint press conference with the visiting Head of State, President Muhamamdu Buhari said Nigeria was gratified by the existing fruitful cooperation with Poland in the fields of maritime, education and defence.
While describing the two-day visit of the Polish President as significant, Buhari underscored the cordial relations that existed between both countries.
He commended the efforts of the Government of Poland in providing assistance to the large number of refugees fleeing the conflict in Ukraine, including a significant number of Nigerians.
On agriculture, the president said cooperation in this area would be a win-win for the two countries, especially in the context of global food insecurity occasioned by the conflict in Ukraine.
Agriculture is one of the priority areas of the Nigerian government.
“Our cooperation in education has a long history.
”We wish to encourage the extension of that cooperation to the sharing of knowledge and experience between our educational institutions.
”These are in areas such as science and technology as well as Information and Communication Technology, in order to help drive innovation in our countries in this competitive global knowledge economy.
‘‘I also wish to express our sincere gratitude for the kind and generous support extended during our government’s evacuation of our fleeing nationals.
‘‘We also appreciate greatly the opportunity given to some of our nationals to remain in Poland to continue with their studies.
“As regards trade relations, we would like to see an increase in the level of trade, as it remains relatively low in spite of the long period of relations between our two countries,” he said.
In his remarks, Duda said Nigeria was the only African country Poland had signed an agreement of strategic dialogue with, which includes the MoU on agriculture cooperation.
He acknowledged the input of Polish engineers and scientists in the building of infrastructure in Nigeria.
“What was pivotal in our conversation today both in our tete-a-tete as well as the plenary session was how to provide food and energy security.
“It is important to us to strengthen the relations between Poland and Nigeria and the MOU we have signed is very important for the future of both nations on food security,” the Polish president told NAN.