The National Youth Council (NYC) hosted the Ambassador of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela to Namibia, Dr. Magaly Henríquez González, during an official engagement focused on youth development, skills transfer and bilateral cooperation.
The Venezuelan envoy was welcomed by the NYC's interim Executive Chairperson, Patience Masua, who highlighted the importance of strengthening people-to-people relations between Namibia and Venezuela, particularly through youth-focused programmes.
Discussions centred on scholarship support, youth governance initiatives, diplomacy and engineering training, tourism and air connectivity that includes direct flights, as well as support for young Namibian entrepreneurs.
"Your Excellency, it is really for us to share knowledge, to see where the areas of longstanding cooperation are, but also to strengthen with urgency that cooperation so that we can run programs and young people can understand that the NYC is here for them," said Masua.
Ambassador Henríquez González said Venezuela was willing to share expertise in key industrial sectors, noting the country's strength in petroleum industrial development.
"Of course, we want to share this experience with you, and most specifically, we want to share this experience because we do not want you to make the same mistakes that we made. We know that the greatest assets of these countries are their resources, and that is also why it is important to emphasise legal aspects, and that's what we are currently doing."
She added that "We also need to focus on the distribution of the resources coming from the petroleum sector and for this particular scholarship offer, we are waiting on the Namibian government to give us the names of the people that will be granted."
The ambassador noted that Namibia could benefit significantly from cooperation in the petroleum sector, adding that knowledge-sharing and capacity-building would be key to strengthening relations between the two countries.
The engagement forms part of NYC's ongoing efforts to expose young people to international partnerships that can contribute to skills development, economic participation and long-term national growth.