Foreign relations of Niger

Niger pursues a moderate foreign policy and maintains friendly relations with both East and West. It belongs to the United Nations. Niger maintains a special relationship with France and enjoys close relations with its West African neighbours.

It is a charter member of the Organization of African Unity and the West African Monetary Union and also belongs to the Niger Basin Authority and the Lake Chad Basin Commission, the Economic Community of West African States, the Non-Aligned Movement, and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation. Niger belongs to the United Nations and its main specialized agencies and in 1980-81 served on the UN Security Council. The first president of Niger, Hamani Diori, maintained close relations with the west and became internationally prominent in his diplomatic work, seeking to broker resolutions to conflicts in Africa and beyond. He was particularly prominent in his involvement as a negotiator during the Nigerian Civil War.

Niger maintains a permanent purpose to the United Nations Headquarters in New York City, at 417 East 50th Street. In 2009, its Ambassador to the United Nations was Ibrahim A. Abani.

Despite the occasional recurrence of a border conflict over Lete Island in the Niger River, Benin and Niger, both former French subjects of French West Africa, relations are close. Niger relies on the port at Cotonou, and to a lesser degree Lomé (Togo), and Port Harcourt (Nigeria), as its main route to overseas trade. Niger operates a Nigerien Ports Authority station, as well as customs and tax offices in a section of Cotonou's port, so that imports and exports can be directly transported between Gaya and the port. French Uranium mines in Arlit, which produce Niger's largest exports by value, travel through this port to France or the world market.

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