India and Nigeria on Tuesday vowed to deepen cooperation to counter terrorism, insurgency and piracy while also boosting trade exchanges as External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar held talks with his Nigerian counterpart Geoffrey Onyeama.
The two foreign ministers discussed the entire gamut of India-Nigeria bilateral relations via video conferencing.
A joint communique issued after the talks said the discussions covered a wide spectrum of cooperation on political, economic and trade, defense and security, developmental assistance and cultural cooperation.
Both sides recalled their extensive cooperation in the field of defence training and capacity building, and expressed satisfaction that it was expanding to newer areas such as defence equipment support, medical and maintenance services, sharing of Research and Development expertise for counter-terrorism and counter-insurgency, and regular exchange of information.
The two ministers acknowledged the ongoing collaborative efforts through information sharing between the Indian and Nigerian navies, and increase of surveillance for maritime security in the Gulf of Guinea though collaboration between the two navies, the joint communique said.
The ministers urged the armed forces of both countries to continue to work together in the on-going efforts to counter terrorism, insurgency and piracy, it added.