REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA - Foreign minister Marty Natalegawa said Indonesia and Nigeria would strengthen their bilateral relations to contribute to world peace and security. 

"Indonesia and Nigeria would strengthen each other not only for the sake of bilateral relations but also to contribute to international peace and security," he said after a Joint Commission Meeting at his office on Thursday.

The meeting on Thursday led jointly by Minister Marty Natalegawa and his Nigerian counterpart Olugbenga Ashiru was held to discuss the follow up of bilateral commitments made during the state visit of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on February 2-3 in this year. The commitments include increasing the two countries` bilateral relations in various fields including politics and security, trade, investment and social-culture. 

Natalegawa said relations between the two countries had gone long and well so that wider opportunities were open for the two countries to increase cooperation in the future. He cited Nigeria was an important country in Africa. 

"Nigeria is a strong partner for Indonesia," he added.

Nigeria`s Minister of Foreign Affairs Olugbenga Ashiru meanwhile said he was glad for the implementation of the Joint Commission Meeting. "The two countries` agreement on the commission is a momentum for increasing cooperation between Nigeria and Indonesia," he said.

Indonesia and Nigeria held a Joint Commission Meeting to follow up their agreement on the establishment of the commission for the cooperation between the two countries signed in New York in September 2010.

The bilateral relations between Nigeria and Indonesia have been established since 1965 marked by the opening of a diplomatic relations and the Indonesian embassy in Lagos, which was later moved to Abuja in 2008. Nigeria opened its embassy in Jakarta in 1976.

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