Nigeria and Bulgaria are to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on defence cooperation, Nigeria’s Minister of Defence, Major General Bashir Salihi Magashi (rtd) has said.
General Magashi, who said that machineries are in motion to “carefully contextualise and conceptualise the draft documents” for the MOU, spoke at the Ministry of Defence Headquarters, Abuja when the Bulgarian Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Nigeria, Yanko V. Yordanov, paid him a visit.
Magashi, who pointed out that the bilateral relation between Nigeria and Bulgaria spanning over five decades is long enough to snowball into a stronger defence cooperation, noted that this has become imperative now that Nigeria is confronting internal security threats being orchestrated by non – state actors.
He said that although the time is ripe for the two countries to emplace a workably robust MoU, “there is however the need to fulfil all righteousness diplomatically to cross the Ts and dott the Is in the legal document.”
The Defence Minister told the Bulgarian Ambassador that the proposed MOU has been transmitted to the Ministry of Justice for “perusal.”
He therefore told his guest that the processes and procedures the documents are being subjected to are the required due diligence paths that will bring out the best in safeguarding interests of the two cooperating nations.
On his part, the Bulgarian Ambassador, Yanko V. Yordanov, thanked the Defence Minister for the bilateral talks which he said will culminate into the long overdue significant signing of the Memorandum of Understanding that will deepen the existing exchange of military trainings and explore other critical areas of defence cooperation between the two countries.
The Ambassador formally invited the Minister of Defence to be a special guest at the forthcoming military exhibitions coming up in Bulgaria in June next year.
He said lots of opportunities await both countries if the Nigerian Armed Forces participate in the invitational event that promises to showcase an array of new Military technologies and harvest of modern weaponry developed by the Bulgarian Armed forces.