President Alassane Ouattara late Friday in Abidjan conferred Cote D\u2019Ivoire\u2019s highest honour, the Grand Cross of the Order of the Nation on President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan in appreciation of Nigeria\u2019s contributions to peace, stability and progress in Cote D\u2019Ivoire.<\/p>\n
President Ouattara also conferred the honour of Commander of the Order of the Nation on the First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan at a State Banquet in the Ivorian seat of government.<\/p>\n
Speaking at the occasion, President Jonathan who began a state visit to the country on Friday said that Nigeria and Cote D\u2019Ivoire must continue to strengthen their bilateral cooperation for the benefit of their citizens and others in the West African sub-region.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs partners, driven by shared values and a common strategic objective, namely, the security, stability and prosperity of our sub-region, we must continue to build on the historical bond of friendship and solidarity which have served our two countries very well in the past.\u00a0 My challenge \u2013 and also President Ouattara\u2019s challenge \u2013 is to intensify this partnership for the benefit of our citizens and the entire sub-region of West Africa.<\/p>\n
\u201cI believe that the future of our countries lies in consolidating our relationships in all spheres of human endeavour but most especially in the areas of democratisation and good governance, promotion of human rights, poverty eradication and development.<\/p>\n
\u201cGoing forward, our countries must build on the efforts of our past leaders to foster a climate of peace and security in our sub-region.<\/p>\n
Without these collective efforts, our hopes and our aspiration of improving the living conditions of our peoples would be imperilled.\u00a0 We must fight poverty collectively through pooling of our resources, value-addition, intra-regional trade and promotion of investments,\u201d<\/p>\n
President Jonathan said.<\/p>\n
President Jonathan thanked President Ouattara and the people of Cote D\u2019Ivoire for the special honours conferred on him and the First Lady. \u201cWe will cherish and treasure them for the rest of our lives,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u2018\u201dAs a true friend of Cote d\u2019Ivoire, Nigeria will always be on your side to share the joys and pains of friendship, in good times as well as in bad times.\u00a0 We stood, shoulder to shoulder, with you all the way during some of the darkest periods of your recent history.\u00a0 Now that your beautiful country has turned the bend, there is even more incentive for us in Nigeria to work with the government of President Ouattara and with the people of Cote d\u2019Ivoire to build on the progress you have worked hard to achieve in the last few years,\u201d the President also said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
President Alassane Ouattara late Friday in Abidjan conferred Cote D\u2019Ivoire\u2019s highest honour, the Grand Cross of the Order of the Nation on President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan in appreciation of Nigeria\u2019s…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10314,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10317","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n