The Ambassador of France to Nigeria, Emmanuell Blatmann, has said that France will reinforce efforts to end terrorism in Nigeria and piracy in Gulf of Guinea.

The Ambassador spoke when she, accompanied by the Defence Attache, Embassy of France in Nigeria, Colonel Guillaume Dujon, paid a courtesy visit on the Minister of Defence, Maj.-Gen. Bashir Salihi Magashi (rtd), at the Ministry of Defence Headquarters, Ship House, Abuja, on Wednesday.

The visit is aimed at increasing bilateral cooperation between the two countries.

Blatmann who expressed her country’s willingness to strengthening the existing bilateral agreements between the two countries requested for technical interface between the two parties to examine critical areas of mutual benefits in the proposed rebirth of Memorandum of Understanding.

Blatmann was quoted in a statement by the Special Assistant Media and Publicity to the Minister of Defence, Mohammad Abdulkadri, as giving “assurances that her country will reinforce efforts to end terrorism in Nigeria and Piracy in Gulf of Guinea”.

Earlier, the Minister of Defence said that Nigeria is seeking renewal of the existing bilateral Military agreements between Nigeria and France to reflect real-time security related needs of the two countries.

Magashi said Nigeria and France are strategic partners, pointing out that “the partnerships need to be rejigged to take it to higher levels of operability and deliverabilities”.

“The Minister therefore welcomes a more proactive intelligence gathering mechanism and technological support to drive new information sharing regime in aid of the Military Campaigns in the country,” the statement read.

“Magashi went further to ask for technological transfer to galvanise the nation’s Military productive capabilities in the sector,” it added.

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