The United States-Nigeria Bi-National Commission (BNC) met on March 30, 2016, in Washington, D.C. The BNC was co-chaired by Geoffrey Onyeama, Honorable Minister of Foreign Affairs, Federal Republic of Nigeria and Antony Blinken, Deputy Secretary of State, United States of America. U.S. National Security Advisor Susan Rice provided opening remarks, and Secretary of State John Kerry met the group and hosted a working lunch.
During President Muhammadu Buhari’s July 20-22, 2015, visit to Washington, President Buhari and Secretary Kerry underscored the need to strengthen and revitalize the BNC to advance our overall relationship and spur joint action on key issues.
At a meeting on November 13, 2015, between an interministerial group led by the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Federal Republic of Nigeria, and the U.S. Ambassador to Nigeria, the two sides underscored the need to reinvigorate the BNC as a forum for focused, high-level discussions. They identified three areas of focus:
- Security Cooperation
- Economic Growth and Development
- Governance and Democracy
The two sides subsequently developed a detailed agenda and added a working bilateral lunch on Multilateral Cooperation.