Indian defence delegation in Nigeria to enhance military cooperation

New Delhi : An Indian defence delegation is on a visit to Nigeria to scope and enhance the military cooperation avenues between the two countries.

“A composite delegation headed by the Military Adviser, National Security Council Secretariat (NSCS) is currently visiting Nigeria to scope and enhance defence cooperation avenues with the Nigerian Defence establishments,” said a senior government officer.

The delegation, comprising representatives of NSCS, Ministry of Defence, all three Armed Forces, Ministry of External Affairs and Defence Industry representatives, is the first of its kind to have this unique composition.

The delegation has met with important Nigerian Security sector functionaries, including the Defence Minister, NSA, Chief of Army Staff, political entities, defence industry representatives to further cement bilateral relations.

India has been enhancing military cooperation with African nations in the recent past.

The foundation of India-Africa defence relations are based on the two guiding principles namely ‘SAGAR’ — Security and Growth for All in the Region — and ‘Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam’ — The World is One Family — Indian Defence Ministry said last week

Looking into it, the Ministry had also announced that Defence Minister Rajnath Singh will host the Defence Ministers of African Nations in the next India-Africa Defence Dialogue on the sidelines of the DefExpo that is scheduled to be held at Gandhinagar, Gujarat in March 2022.

The broad theme of this India-Africa Defence Dialogue will be ‘India-Africa: Adopting Strategy for Synergizing and Strengthening Defence and Security Cooperation’.

The first-ever India-Africa Defence Ministers Conclave (IADMC) was held in Lucknow in conjunction with DefExpo on February 6, 2020 and was co-organised by the Ministry of Defence and Ministry of External Affairs.

It was the first in the series of Pan-Africa events at the Ministerial level in the run-up to India-Africa Forum Summit IV. A Joint Declaration, ‘Lucknow Declaration’ was adopted after the conclusion of IADMC 2020 as an outcome document of the conclave.