Muraleedharan to visit Nigeria from June 11 to 13

Minister of State for External Affairs V. Muraleedharan will visit Nigeria from June 11 to 13, it was announced on Tuesday.

This is Muraleedharan's first visit abroad as the Minister of State for External Affairs.

"Muraleedharan will be attending the 'Democracy Day' celebrations in Abuja and interact with the Nigerian leadership on June 12. He is also expected to meet leaders from Africa who will be attending the 'Democracy Day'," a press statement said.

The Minister will also visit Lagos on June 13.

He will interact with members of the Indian community both in Abuja and Lagos.

India-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 $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 fifth largest supplier of crude oil and second largest supplier of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) to India.

Indian companies have large presence in Nigeria and Nigeria hosts the largest Indian community in West Africa.

--IANS

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