Nigeria and Mali have agreed to hold a Joint Commission soon to revitalise some dormant bilateral agreements between the two countries.

Special Assistant on Communication and New Media to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu, Dr Magnus Eze, in a statement, said this was the high point of a diplomatic engagement between both countries when the Ambassador of Mali to Nigeria, Oumar Coulibaly, paid a courtesy visit to Odumegwu-Ojukwu at Tafawa Balewa House, Abuja.

The minister said that Nigeria and Mali had had very cordial bilateral relations, noting that the exit of the Sahel states of Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger would not make them jettison their relationship.

Odumegwu-Ojukwu pointed out that the two countries needed to cooperate militarily to address the security situation in the Sahel occasioned by terrorism and banditry.

Ambassador Coulibaly, who called Nigeria a big brother, could not agree less. There might be issues at the regional level, he said, but as Africans, Nigeria and Mali must continue to relate bilaterally.

He called for a political dialogue between both countries ahead of the proposed Joint Commission.