ISLAMABAD: President Mamnoon Hussain will pay a four-day visit to Nigeria from Monday.

The visit was originally planned in April but postponed at the eleventh hour under unclear circumstances. The postponement was not received well in Nigeria whose officials had expressed displeasure over it to the Pakistan High Commission in Nigeria.

Mr Hussain’s visit will be the first by a Pakistani president to Nigeria in 32 years. During the visit, the president will stress the need for closer ties between the two countries. But the focus of the trip will be on promoting trade linkages.

“The president’s visit to Nigeria will give a new impetus to our trade relations and provide a welcome opportunity to discuss ways and means for further strengthening of economic and trade relations,” a Foreign Office statement said.

Trade between Pakistan and Nigeria, which is now the largest economy of Africa, is merely $70 million.

Pakistan’s neighbours, including India and China, have lately been reaching out to the West African country for broadening trade and economic links. Nigeria is a major source of petroleum for both India and China.

Besides a meeting with his Nigerian counterpart Goodluck Jonathan, President Hussain will address business forums in Abuja and Lagos. He will also announce establishment of a commercial section in Lagos.

Several agreements are expected to be signed during the visit, including cooperation between chambers of commerce of the two countries as well as on industrial cooperation, according to the FO.

Meanwhile, FO spokesperson Tasneem Aslam said at a weekly briefing that issuance of national identity card and passport to MQM chief Altaf Hussain depended on completion of the process by him.

“Whenever Mr Altaf Hussain is ready to complete the process, these documents will be processed accordingly,” she said.

Explaining the procedure, she said that in exceptional cases, for NICOP (National Identity Card for Overseas Pakistanis), a team could visit the applicant and take details, but for the passport the applicant had to go to the high commission.

Information Minister Pervez Rashid had a day earlier said that it had been decided in principle that a Pakistani passport would be issued to Mr Hussain.

About the acting high commissioner’s visit to Mr Hussain in hospital, Ms Aslam said it was done in pursuance of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s directions. “We have already carried out the actions in pursuance of the prime minister’s instructions,” she said.

Published in Dawn, June 7th, 2014