{"id":253684,"date":"2026-07-14T19:00:31","date_gmt":"2026-07-14T19:00:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/foreignaffairs.gov.ng\/news\/?p=253684"},"modified":"2026-07-14T21:06:29","modified_gmt":"2026-07-14T21:06:29","slug":"security-trade-basa-top-as-nigeria-mali-plan-joint-commission","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/foreignaffairs.gov.ng\/news\/security-trade-basa-top-as-nigeria-mali-plan-joint-commission\/","title":{"rendered":"SECURITY, TRADE, BASA TOP AS NIGERIA, MALI PLAN JOINT COMMISSION."},"content":{"rendered":"

PRESS RELEASE<\/strong><\/p>\n

Nigeria and Mali have agreed to hold a Joint Commission soon to revitalise some dormant bilateral agreements between the two countries.<\/p>\n

This was the highpoint of a diplomatic engagement between both countries when the Ambassador of Mali to Nigeria, Oumar Coulibaly paid a courtesy visit on the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu at Tafawa Balewa House, Abuja.<\/p>\n

The minister said that Nigeria and Mali had had very cordial bilateral relations, noting that the exit of the Sahel states of Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger would not make them jettison their relationship. Odumegwu-Ojukwu pointed out that the two countries needed to cooperate militarily to address the security situation in the Sahel occasioned by terrorism and banditry.<\/p>\n

Harping on the Joint Commission, the minister said that it was a veritable platform to reactivate bilateral agreements, stressing that security, trade, energy, irregular migration\/human trafficking, Bilateral Air Services Agreement (BASA) and others would top areas of cooperation.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis meeting is long overdue,\u201d the minister said, adding that \u201cNigeria and Mali share common objectives and goals. We need to deepen bilateral relations.\u201d Regardless of happenings in the region, Odumegwu-Ojukwu explained that Nigeria believes that it should keep its doors open for Mali; \u201cwe as a nation believe that we should forge closeness.\u201d<\/p>\n

The minister stated: \u201cWe know what the security situation is in the Sahel. For us, the joint commission is the most viable platform to cooperate and this could give opportunity for starting security cooperation to tackle terrorism.<\/p>\n

\u201cEnergy is another area that we could cooperate. We are bothered about the energy shortage in Mali. What happens to Mali is important to Nigeria. We have to create ease of movement and people to people contacts is very important to us.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe issue we are experiencing across the Sahel needs a broader participation. We need a purposeful working security agreement. This will continue to contribute to peace and security across the West Africa region.\u201d<\/p>\n

The minister, then, conveyed the sympathies of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the people of Nigeria to Mali over the recent wave of rebel attacks in the country which claimed the life of its Defence Minister, General Sadio Camara on April 25, this year.<\/p>\n

Ambassador Coulibaly who called Nigeria a big brother, could not agree less. There may be issues at the regional level, he said, but as Africans, Nigeria and Mali must continue to relate bilaterally. He called for a political dialogue between both countries ahead of the proposed Joint Commission.<\/p>\n

According to the envoy, a political dialogue and the joint commission will address the challenges of human trafficking and the common security issues faced by \u201cour two countries.\u201d<\/p>\n

He gladly announced that as part of the BASA, a Nigerian airline; Air Peace, would this month commence flight operations on the Lagos to Bamako route.<\/p>\n

DR. MAGNUS EZE
\nSpecial Assistant on Communication and New Media,
\nOffice of the Honourable Minister of Foreign Affairs, Abuja.<\/p>\n

\"\" \u00a0\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

PRESS RELEASE Nigeria and Mali have agreed to hold a Joint Commission soon to revitalise some … SECURITY, TRADE, BASA TOP AS NIGERIA, MALI PLAN JOINT COMMISSION.<\/span>Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":253687,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[44,47],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-253684","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-hmfa-news","category-press-release"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/foreignaffairs.gov.ng\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253684","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/foreignaffairs.gov.ng\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/foreignaffairs.gov.ng\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foreignaffairs.gov.ng\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foreignaffairs.gov.ng\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=253684"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/foreignaffairs.gov.ng\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253684\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":253688,"href":"https:\/\/foreignaffairs.gov.ng\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253684\/revisions\/253688"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foreignaffairs.gov.ng\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/253687"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/foreignaffairs.gov.ng\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=253684"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foreignaffairs.gov.ng\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=253684"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foreignaffairs.gov.ng\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=253684"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}