President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has returned to Abuja after attending the Aqaba Process Heads of State and Government-level Meeting held in Rome, Italy.
The Aqaba Process, a global counter-terrorism initiative launched in 2015 by His Majesty King Abdullah II of Jordan, is co-chaired by Jordan and Italy. This year’s summit focused on strengthening regional and international partnerships to tackle terrorism and violent extremism, with particular attention to the West African region.
The high-level meeting took place on Wednesday, October 15, at the National Gallery of Modern and Contemporary Art in Rome. Among the notable attendees were King Abdullah II of Jordan, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, and Presidents from Nigeria, Chad, Paraguay, Sierra Leone, and Togo.
Also present were Azouz Nasri, President of Algeria’s Upper House, and delegations from Côte d’Ivoire, Kazakhstan, Mauritania, Senegal, and Uzbekistan, alongside special envoys and security experts. The deliberations were held behind closed doors.
On the sidelines of the event, President Tinubu held bilateral talks with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and U.S. President Donald Trump’s Senior Adviser on Arab and African Affairs, Massad Boulos. He also met with the Vatican’s Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, where discussions centered on promoting religious harmony in Nigeria and addressing misinformation portraying the country as intolerant of religious diversity.
Since its inception, the Aqaba Process has convened 33 meetings, fostering global collaboration across three key areas: prevention, coordination, and closing operational gaps in the fight against terrorism.
