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Nigerian Foreign Minister Says Plans to Visit Moscow in March, Meet With Lavrov

ADDIS ABABA (Sputnik) - Nigeria and Russia are developing their bilateral cooperation in sectors such as energy, agriculture, education and others. Both countries have diplomatic missions in each other's capitals.
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Nigerian Foreign Minister Yusuf Maitama Tuggar told Sputnik that he plans to visit Moscow in March and meet with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

"As a matter of fact, I have a trip scheduled to Moscow [...] I believe it's next month, to meet with Minister Lavrov," the minister said, adding that he plans to discuss nuclear energy cooperation development in Russia.

He also added that he plans to discuss the advancement of cooperation in the field of nuclear energy in Moscow, as Nigeria is interested in building a nuclear power plant in partnership with Russian state nuclear corporation Rosatom.

"Very much interested. We also hope to see that, Russia, works with Nigeria in resolving, some of our regional problems," Tuggar said, answering a question whether the country is interested in having Rosatom construct a nuclear plant.

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As for other potential fields for partnership, Nigeria supports the Russian plan to exchange payments with African states in digital currencies, as it will contribute to trade and development of the regional countries, the minister underlined.

"It's a good idea. Anything to support trade … that will help the development of Nigeria and African countries is something that we encourage," the minister said, when asked about Russia's plans to do exchanges with African countries in digital currencies.

He also touched upon the topic of the problems in the West African region, noting that Nigeria expects to work together with Russia to resolve them.

"Well, some of the countries that are claiming to have left ECOWAS [the Economic Community of West African States] for instance, are looking to Russia for help. They are looking to Russia for support. We hope that ... we are not saying Russia should not to help them, but Russia should also be mindful of certain security concerns certain issues to do with peace and tranquility in our region. So we hope that Russia works with Nigeria, which is the largest country in West Africa to resolve some of these issues. We are concerned about some of the overtures that they are [Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger] making to Russia," Tuggar said.

On January 28, Burkina Faso, Niger and Mali announced their withdrawal from ECOWAS, according to their joint communique.