By Chesa Chesa
The President of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko has stated his country’s readiness to partner with Nigeria in key areas of the economy.
This was when he received First Lady Oluremi Tinubu in his office in Minsk, Belarus on Wednesday during which he highlighted some of the areas Belarus is looking at for cooperation between the two countries to include agriculture, food processing, industry and education.
The President who spoke through an interpreter pointed out that Senator Oluremi Tinubu’s visit has further strengthened his administration’s resolve to enhance bilateral relations with Nigeria, noting that one key area they would be hoping to collaborate is on specialists training.
“We know your needs and we know the possibilities that you have. Let me underline that these possibilities are important and significant for us. We can render significant assistant to you and you can reciprocate for us.
“We are willing to explore deeper collaboration in the area of education with your country. Please ask President Bola Tinubu for the visit of our Minister of Foreign Affairs to your country so we can develop these areas of collaboration further”, he said.
In her response, Mrs. Tinubu thanked her host especially for providing 20 Nigerian students full scholarship through her initiative, Renewed Hope Initiative (RHI).
She explained to President Lukashenko that the RHI is currently involved in empowering women especially through the Women in Agriculture programme which is a way to improve on food security and production in Nigeria.
She assured him that Nigeria would also be reaching out further to see how the desired collaboration between Nigeria and Belarus would be pursued.
Earlier, the First Lady had met with the Belarusian Minister of Education, Andrey Ivanets, who pointed out that about 600 Nigerian students are studying and doing well in various fields in Belarus.
The First Lady also met with the Speaker of Belarus parliament, Ms Natalya Kochanova and members of the Women’s Union of Belarus, comprising women professionals from all sectors.
