Speaker of the House of Representatives Hon. Abbas Tajudeen has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the People’s National Assembly of the Democratic Republic of Algeria.

The MoU seeks to establish strong parliamentary exchanges, strengthen democracy, rule of law, and other legislative interventions mutually beneficial to Nigeria and Algeria.

Abbas signed the MoU with the Speaker of the People’s National Assembly of Algeria, upon his arrival in Algiers for a working visit on Monday, “based on the historical bonds of friendship between the Algerian and Nigerian peoples, as well as their shared values and principles.”

The two parliaments reached the agreement, “recognising the importance the parties attach to strengthening the friendly and close relations between the two parliamentary bodies.”

Both parties also reaffirmed the commitment of both parliaments to “promoting democracy and the rule of law, guided by the principles and rules of international law, and the Charter and principles of the African Union, with a view to promoting exchanges in the legal field and other parliamentary activities.”

The bilateral agreements in the MoU partly read, “The parties shall contribute to strengthening parliamentary cooperation between the People’s Democratic Republic of Algeria and the Federal Republic of Nigeria with a view to developing relations between the two countries in the future.

“The parties shall work actively to strengthen parliamentary cooperation through exchanges of official visits and coordination between parliamentary committees of both countries; ensuring parliamentary support for development programs between the parties; establishing a joint framework for parliamentary support and capacity building; exchanging expertise and knowledge; and encouraging the implementation of various development programs.”