“We see the Mediterranean Sea not as a dividing line, but as a bridge,” Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias said in a statement ahead of a meeting with Nigerian Foreign Minister Jeffrey Oneyama in Abuja, adding that Greece Nigeria as a neighbor.
As he reminded, Africa is home to the fastest growing economies in the world and Nigeria is the largest economy in Africa. Greece, on the other hand, is a member of the EU and thus considers that it can facilitate communication between Europe and Africa, including Nigeria.
Mr. Dendias pointed out that his visit to the country of Sub-Saharan Africa is his first for 2022, which is in a way symbolic, but also the first visit of a Greek Foreign Minister that ever took place in Nigeria.
“It is the right place to start in 2022”, Mr. Dendias characteristically noted.
The Foreign Minister thanked his Nigerian counterpart for his report on the strong presence of the Greek business community in Nigeria for almost 100 years. According to the two ministers, the Greek names “are familiar names for all of Nigeria, which means that this Greek business community did not come to Nigeria to make a profit and leave, but became Greek and Nigerian at the same time, serving both countries, both nations, our common future “.
“The next time I am here, I hope soon, I will visit Lagos and I will visit this Greek business community, for which, if you will allow me, sir, we are very proud and it is our connecting bridge, it can be our connecting bridge “, he emphasized characteristically.
However, he did not fail to mention the other bridge between the two countries, “the best basketball player in the United States and in the world now, Giannis Antitokoumpos, a familiar name for every Greek, as Giannis”. “He is of Nigerian origin, he is Greek. “Again, it is a bridge between us in sports and we are both very proud of it,” said Mr. Dendias.
The two ministers signed a memorandum of understanding on bilateral Greek-Nigeria consultations. Mr. Dendias pointed out that there is a long list of agreements that the two ministries are working on with the aim of being completed soon, while he invited his Nigerian counterpart to visit Athens soon.
The foreign minister also offered 900,000 doses of vaccines in Nigeria and 100,000 in Angola through the COVAX mechanism.
“I am delighted to bring with me a ‘gift’ to Nigerian society and to the Nigerian people, and that is almost a million vaccines,” he said.
“Everyone suffers from the coronavirus, all of us. But there is a huge achievement through this pain, that we all clearly understand, that we are a global community. That no one is safe unless everyone is safe. “Health is a global good and we all have a moral obligation to offer help whenever and wherever needed.”
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