Nigerian President Umar Yar'Adua has announced plans to send a high-level delegation to North Korea to invest in the communist country's energy and natural gas.

Speaking Thursday with outgoing North Korean Ambassador to Abuja Kim Byeong-gi, the African leader said he will dispatch his energy minister to Pyongyang to discuss possible investment projects.

Kim promised cooperation for Nigeria's election as a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council in the course of U.N. reform leading to council expansion.