The Nigeria- Japan Special Partnership Forum (NJSPF) has ended in Abuja with a commitment to vigorously pursue the development of Nigeria’s natural gas resources in the bid to attract Foreign Direct Investment in the sector.
Participants at the one-day forum also agreed to work ahead to achieve better outcomes in the next Tokyo International Conference on African Development ( TICAD) session,which is scheduled to hold in Tunisia in August this year.
The statement was made available to media by the Press Unit of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Friday in Abuja.
The special forum, among other things, discussed some issues including “the outcomes of the Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD) Ministerial meeting held between 26th and 27th March 2022.
“It also discussed priority issues for TICAD 8 Summit, scheduled to hold in Tunisia from 27th to 28th August 2022; situation in West Africa, including Lake Chad Region, Sahel, ECOWAS; the situation in Ukraine and its impact on African development as well ascooperation in the International Arena.”
The Nigerian delegation to the forum, which was held virtually in Abuja, was led by Ambassador Gabriel T. Aduda,Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Others included H. E. Abubakar Hassaini Moriki, Ambassador of Nigeria to Japan and Ambassador Mustapha Tunde Mukaila, Director Regions, Ministry of Foreign Affairs headquarters.
The Japanese side was led by Ambassador Yonetami Koji, Assistant Minister and Director–General, African Affairs Department, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan.
The meeting was also attended by Mitsunaga Kazuyoshi, Ambassador of Japan to Nigeria and Mr. Mase Hiroyuki,who is Director of African Affairs Division, as members.
At the end of the forum, both parties expressed their readiness to work closely together in all areas of agreement.
The NJSPF was established in May 2001 to create a mechanism for diplomatic consultations at senior officials level to discuss broad ranges of bilateral issues bordering on political, economic, scientific, technical and cultural relations as well as multilateral cooperation.
