Foreign minister Yusuf Tuggar has commended the Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development for bolstering economic and social development across the Global South, including Nigeria.

Mr Tuggar disclosed this in a statement on Monday. The statement followed his meeting with Waleed Al-Bahar, the KFAED director-general, in Abuja, for a high-level bilateral meeting focused on deepening development cooperation between Nigeria and Kuwait.

He pointed out that the historic and cordial relations between the two countries had been flourishing since the 1960s.

According to him, KFAED played a crucial role in promoting economic and social development across the Global South, including Nigeria.

Discussions during the meeting centred on expanding cooperation in priority sectors aligned with President Bola Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda. The minister highlighted Nigeria’s development priorities, including infrastructure renewal, human capital development, poverty reduction, youth empowerment, and economic diversification.

Also, there was emphasis on education, with both countries reflecting on the success of the Reaching Out-of-School Children initiative in Kaduna.

It was described as an impactful project supported by KFAED in partnership with UNICEF, while stressing the urgency of scaling similar interventions nationwide, to tackle Nigeria’s education gap.

On food security, Mr Tuggar proposed enhanced collaboration in agricultural modernisation, including irrigation, agro-processing, and technology transfer, as areas where Kuwait’s import reliance offers a shared incentive for innovation and cooperation.

He further proposed new infrastructure projects in transportation, power, and digital connectivity, and called for continued concessional financing and technical assistance from the Kuwait Fund.

The minister reaffirmed Nigeria’s commitment to hosting the inaugural session of the Nigeria-Kuwait Joint Commission for Cooperation later this year to institutionalise dialogue and fast-track mutually beneficial projects.

(NAN)