PRESS CONFERENCE OF CHANCELLOR ANGELA MERKEL AND THE PRESIDENT OF THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA, MUHAMMADU BUHARI

In Berlin

(The logging of the foreign-language part took place by simultaneous translation)

Chancellor Merkel: Dear Mr. Muhammadu Buhari! I am pleased to welcome you to Berlin today, after we met at the G7 summit in Elmau and I was in Nigeria a few years ago.

Just a few days ago, the German-Nigerian bi-national commission in Abuja, to which our Federal Foreign Minister had travelled, had also met as an expression of our close cooperation. We will continue the cooperation in the context of the G20 Summit, which will take place in Germany next year, and will return to what we have already emphasized in the context of G7, namely cooperation in the field of health and, of course, cooperation in the fight Against terrorism.

This is where the Chad basin region, which also includes Nigeria, faces great challenges, including fighting Boko Haram. We have set the framework for our development cooperation with 47.5 million Euros (Eur 47.5m) and humanitarian aid for the Chad basin region with 18 million Euros (Eur 18m). The humanitarian situation in the Chad region is alarming. There are over eleven million people who are displaced, who are partly hungry and face a Chad Lake, which currently still has ten per cent of the water surface of what it has always had, which, of course, seriously challenges the nutritional bases.

It is all the more remarkable that the multinational military mission against Boko Haram has already achieved considerable success. In the delegation of the President is also represented the governor of the region, in which Boko Haram rages. We were able to convince ourselves today that there are considerable successes. But the economic situation in Nigeria is complicated by the low oil price. As a result, there is a high degree of unemployment in the Niger Delta combined with crime. Economic cooperation is therefore of great importance.

We will continue to do so - the President is also talking about today - that economic cooperation with German companies can be strengthened. There are big investment projects. On the same day, the first inauguration of a BASF production facility in Nigeria is taking place, where we can join a training course where we can give young people a chance, because the demographic development of Nigeria is very dynamic.

We have also discussed the issues of the migration partnership. The European Commission wants to negotiate a migration partnership with Nigeria. I have made it clear that we have to put illegal trafficking on the trades, not to put people at risk, but in return we have to make it clear that we have to create future perspectives for young people in Nigeria - whether through the Development cooperation, but also through jobs, through training and training opportunities.

(Read the rest of the transcript in the link below)

SOURCE: http://www.ndibe.org/2016/10/full-transcript-of-press-conference.html