Namibia and China are set to continue their collaboration in pursuit of shared prosperity between the two nations. This commitment was reaffirmed by Namibia's Ambassador to China, Elia Kaiyamo, during an in-depth discussion with the Chinese news network CGTN.
The conversation took place ahead of the upcoming Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC), which is scheduled to be held in Beijing on September 3.
Ambassador Kaiyamo says the two countries' relationship dates back to Namibia's liberation struggle and has since been extended to include cooperation in education, infrastructure development, and trade.
"We cannot overemphasize China's love for Africa; we need to continue this cooperation for shared prosperity, and as people, we need to have difficult conversations about how best we want to go about this cooperation; hence, we need to continue cooperating because these are the initial products of cooperating. Now we need to establish good relationships, and we need to continue building relationships."
The discussion also featured the Board Chairperson of construction company China Henan International Cooperation (Chico), Cheng Jian, who highlighted the two countries cooperation in developing road infrastructure.
Chico has been active in Namibia since 2007, counting 24 completed projects on roads, bridges, and railways since then, creating employment for thousands of Namibians, transferring skills, and contributing to Namibia's road infrastructure.
"Roads, bridges, and railways with a total length of two thousand km; currently, one road project between Rundu and Divindu is being executed, and another project is at Husab Mine, a road construction road; now we have 22 Chinese colleagues and 220 Namibian colleagues."
Husab Mine, which operates under Swakop Uranium, was also part of the discussion.
The two nations are also considering new ways of cooperating in the fields of renewable energy, green hydrogen, and desalination to improve water supply.
These items are all set to feature on the agenda at this year's FOCAC.