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By Chinwendu Obienyi and Chukwuma Umeorah
British High Commissioner to Nigeria, Catriona Laing, has said the United Kingdom (UK) under King Charles II will continue to work with the Federal Government to build on its long standing cooperation across a wide range of areas.
This was even as she said bad diplomatic relationship with UK was responsible for the non-invitation of some countries to the Queen’s funeral.Laing disclosed this in a television programme monitored in Lagos, yesterday.
“Nigeria-UK partnership is built on mutual respect, deep and longstanding cooperation across a wide range of areas. We look forward to this continuing in earnest with King Charles III and with the UK government. One of the things Queen Elizabeth II was passionate about was the environment and climate change; the King was aware of it, and has identified the importance of protecting the environment. King Charles III is also very passionate about the environment, that’s the area of focus as we head towards COP27, the next major international summit on climate change, which is due to take place in Egypt later this year,” Laing said.
On why Russia, Belarus, Syria, Venezuela, Afghanistan and Myanmar were not invited to the Queen’s funeral, Laing said: “It is quite simple, all countries with which we have diplomatic relations have been invited to the funeral. The lists of countries you have mentioned are countries that at the moment, we do not have normal diplomatic relations with and that is the reason they have not been invited..”
Catriona expressed gratitude to all who have commiserated with the UK over the passing of the Queen. She said many Nigerians including prominent senior citizens turned up in their numbers to sign the condolence register.
