Minister of State for External Affairs Shri.V. Muraleedharan will visit Nigeria from 11-13 June, 2019. This is Shri. V. Muraleedharan’s first visit abroad as Minister of State for External Affairs. He will be attending the "Democracy Day” celebrations in
Abuja and interact with the Nigerian leadership on 12 June. Minister of State is also expected to meet leaders from Africa who will be attending the "Democracy Day”. Minister of State would also visit Lagos on 13 June.
Minister of State would interact with the members of the Indian community both in Abuja and Lagos.
India and Nigeria relations have traditionally been friendly and the bilateral partnership was elevated to strategic partnership in 2007. Both the countries also have strong defence cooperation. With annual bilateral trade of US $ 11. 76 billion in the year
2017-18, Nigeria is India’s largest trading partner in Africa, and India is Nigeria’s largest trading partner globally. Nigeria is also the 5th largest supplier of crude oil and 2nd largest supplier of LNG to India. Indian companies have large presence in
Nigeria and Nigeria hosts the largest Indian community in West Africa.
This visit is reflective of the close and substantive ties between India and Nigeria.
New Delhi
June 11, 2019