Mubarak meeting with Nigerian minister praised
Egypt-Nigeria, Politics, 2/9/2002

Nigerian Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Mallam Adamu Bello Thursday praised the meeting he had held with President Hosni Mubarak at the Presidential Palace on Wednesday, saying it was a good opportunity to discuss a number of issues.

In an exclusive interview with MENA on the sidelines of the ministerial meeting of the 22nd Regional Conference for Africa of the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), Bello said the meeting had covered a number of issues, mainly the situation in Nigeria.

The President expressed deep concern over the latest developments and "I assured him that everything was in order," he said, adding that President Mubarak entrusted him with conveying his regards to the Nigerian president.

Asked about the talks he held with Deputy Premier and Minister of Agriculture and Land Reclamation Youssef Wali and other Egyptian officials, Bello said he visited a number of research institutes, and got acquainted with the progress realised in terms of agricultural mechanization in Egypt.

"Egypt has been able to adapt expensive machinery and make them environment-friendly," he said, voicing belief that "there will be an opportunity to cooperate with Egypt."

Commenting on his visit to the National Research Centre, the minister said he had met with a number of officials there, adding that he would send the Nigerian director of veterinary research to Egypt to meet with Egyptian officials to discuss the production of vaccines and drugs for animals.

Answering a query about his expectations of the outcome of the conference, the minister said "the participants will table their views, come together and take a common stand and try to see the role of NEPAD (New Partnership for Africa's Development) initiative in the area of agriculture to see how we shall act in concert..all of us to push agriculture forward."

Concerning cooperation between Nigeria and Egypt, the minister referred to bilateral agreements signed between the two nations since 1981, adding that Nigeria had the privilege of sending officials, students and workers to Egypt for training.

"This kind of cooperation has been going on and we intend to intensify it to see how Egypt could send some staff to Nigeria to help particularly with our irrigation programmes, as Egypt is very experienced in this particular field."

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  Nigerian foreign minister will visit Egypt in June   (5/30/2000)

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