Windhoek, July 9 (IANS) The President of Namibia, Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah on Wednesday hailed Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit as a “historic” one, highlighting that it is the first State Visit being hosted by her after taking over as the President of the African nation, earlier this year.
“To me personally it’s very historic in the sense that since I took over as President of the republic of Namibia, on the 21st March this year, this is the first State Visit I am hosting and I don’t take it very lightly,” Nandi-Ndaitwah said in her remarks during the delegation-level talks with PM Modi.
Focusing on the opportunity to increase bilateral cooperation, Ndaitwah mentioned the growing trade and investment ties, technical cooperation, political as well as people-to-people relations between the two countries.
“The frequent high-level visit engagement and structured bilateral mechanism such as our Joint Commission of Cooperation and Joint Trade Committee have enabled us to deepen our relationship across many fields,” she said.
The relations, she mentioned, have been diversified in areas of ICT, human resources development, agriculture, pharmaceuticals, as well as defence and biodiversity conservation.
Ndaitwah also mentioned the “successful” translocation of Cheetahs from Namibia to India.
“It is not just an act of ecological restoration, it’s a global symbol of innovative South-South cooperation and sustainable partnership,” she added.
The Namibian President welcomed India’s proposal under the pharmacy of the world initiative to establish a pharmaceutical manufacturing facility in Windhoek, which would significantly enhance regional health security and align with Namibia’s goal of strengthening domestic production capability in the health sector.
Expansion of trade and investment along with potential for scaling up cooperation in areas like green hydrogen and clean hydrogen, mining and value addition, oil and gas, infrastructure development, agriculture and food security, as well as tourism development was also discussed in detail during the one-on-one discussions between the two leaders and also the delegation-level talks.
Ndaitwah also suggested putting up a united front and maintaining regular consultation on vital issues such as the need for the reform of the UN Security Council and other multilateral institutions.
“We share the same conviction of a fairer equitable representation and democratic UNSC, reflecting the current geopolitical reality, and therefore should unite in order to ensure that the desired reforms take place sooner rather than later,” she said.
The Namibian President also expressed strong condemnation of terrorism in all its forms and manifestation, reaffirming the African nation’s support for the right to self-determination of people living under foreign occupation and colonial domination.
–IANS
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