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To the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. To the Leader of the Opposition, to my Ministerial colleagues, members of the President';s travelling party, including a number of his senior ministers, ladies and gentlemen.
This is something of a milestone in the bilateral relationship between our two countries. It is the first occasion that we have had a visit to Australia by a serving Nigerian head of state. But it carries with it more than that symbolic significance, it carries with it the opportunity for us to salute and honour a man who has suffered much in a personal way in pursuit of his democratic ideals. Nigeria and Australia share democratic values and democratic ideals. But none of us who serve in the Australian parliamentary system have been through the personal fire and difficulty and pain and discomfort that our honoured guest has experienced in his long struggle, including a period of imprisonment, to achieve a return to democratic rule in his country. And it';s for that reason as a warrior for democracy that we, as well as his position as the President of Nigeria, we welcome him here today.
Australia and Nigeria are fellow members of the Commonwealth. Our nations share the values of that organisation and we recognise very much the significance of Nigeria, Africa';s most populous nation of 110 million people, one of the major oil producers of the world and a country which under the leadership of our guest has done much to address the great challenges of economic development and the need to alter and restructure the Nigerian economy.
The President and I have had a very constructive dialogue. We';ve examined areas where our two nations might work more closely together. He visited one of the jewels in the Australian sporting crown this morning, the Australian Institute of Sport. And just as in Australia in Nigeria, sport bulks large and Australians know well the fiercesome competitive competence of amongst other things Nigeria';s soccer players and Nigeria';s athletes and we admire very much the performance of Nigeria on the world';s sporting stage.
But I recognise as Prime Minister of a developed country, as one that is described as well endowed and not without good reason. I recognise the enormous challenges that a country such as Nigeria faces. I admire the fact that the President and his administration have gone down the path of economic openness, have gone down the path of encouraging private sector investment. And I would hope that Australian companies would increasingly, where commercial opportunities are present, look to Nigeria as a destination for investment because the success of the renaissance of democracy in Nigeria, as in so many countries around the world will depend very heavily on the extent to which, as the President put it to me this morning, there is a democratic dividend and that democratic dividend must be rising living standards and improved economic performance. And in that pursuit Australia will be an ally, a friend and a partner of Nigeria';s.
The President of course has visited Australia on one earlier occasion, back in 1974, as a young army officer and he also formed with a predecessor of mine, Malcolm Fraser, the partnership when they were joint chairmen of the Eminent Persons Group appointed in relation to South Africa in the middle 1980';s. And as the President remarked coming to this luncheon the report of that eminent persons group was a watershed in the change of attitude and climate within South Africa and towards South Africa which led ultimately to the release of Nelson Mandela and ultimately to the transformation of South Africa into a democratic state where all races were recognised on a basis of equality.
So Mr President you are a very welcome and a very honoured guest to our country. We will together at Coolum over the next few days meet as leaders of two Commonwealth nations. It is a unique association. It brings together many races and many religions. It is a modern exercise in religious and racial tolerance and respect. And as I remarked in another place in another set of circumstances last night more than ever in the wake of the events of September of last year the world needs fora and organisations that bring together different races and the different religions of your world.
To you Mr President on behalf of the Australian Government I extend a very warm welcome. I think this visit of yours will do much to lay the foundations of an even stronger relationship between our two countries. We honour you as the President of an important Commonwealth partner of Australia';s but even more than that we honour you personally for what you have done and what you have suffered and endured in the cause of the democratic values that we all share in common. I would now like to ask the Leader of the Opposition, Simon Crean, to support my remarks.
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