Buhari Receives Envoys Of 6 Countries, Seeks Collaboration Against Terrorism, Climate Change, Others

President Muhammadu Buhari has received envoys of six countries at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, on Thursday.

The envoys include ambassadors and high commissions of The Gambia, South Korea, Slovak, Australia, Bangladesh and Guinea Bissau, who presented their letters of credence to the president at the State House.

Buhari, during his meeting with the envoys, called for further collaboration with the international community in the fight against terrorism, insurgency and climate change, amongst others.

The president harped on the need for nations to work together and tackle the growing challenges facing them individually.

“I would like to lay emphasis on the need for us to come together to address and overcome our common challenges. Terrorism, Insurgency, Displacement of Persons, Climate Change, Population Explosion, Human Trafficking, Corruption, Poverty, and Proliferation of Small Arms and Light Weapons are all either the sources of conflict or results of it.

“These challenges though on a diverse scale, threaten the existence of humanity and human relations. These challenges underscore the need for the international community to work together to collectively identify appropriate measures to globally overcome these challenges,’’ he said.

Buhari also noted that COVID-19 remained humanity’s greatest threat as it affects people’s public health, economy and livelihood.

“Although countries around the world have commenced the vaccine rollout against the pandemic, mitigating the spread of the virus and the impact of its infection, remains cause for concern.

“In addition to the fraternal relations between us, the one thing Nigeria has in common with your countries is peace. Peace is priceless, desirable and crucial to sustainable development and achieving the targets set by the UN global initiatives.

“It is therefore imperative for us to work individually and bilaterally for sustainable peace. Achieving global peace is vital to attaining food security. Peace and food security should be pursued simultaneously.

 “This age-long tradition and practice enshrined in the Vienna Convention on diplomatic relations marks the official commencement of your functions as principal representatives of your respective countries,’’ he added.

The new envoys are the High Commissioner of The Gambia, Mr Mohamadou Musa Njie, Ambassador of South Korea, Mr Kim Young-Chae, Ambassador of Slovak, Mr Tomas Felix, High Commissioner of Australia, Mr John Gerard Donnelly, High Commissioner of Bangladesh, Mr Md. Masudur Rahman and Ambassador of Guinea Bissau, Dr Jaao Ribeiro Butiam Co.

Njie, who spoke on behalf of the other envoys, thanked the president for the warm reception they had received and pledged that “We will not spare efforts in putting in our best to improve relations between our countries.’’