Presidents Hage Geingob and Cyril Ramaphosa have directed the Committee of Experts dealing with the Orange River boundary negotiations to table the report to the Political, Diplomatic, and Legal Committee by January next year.

Dr. Geingob and Ramaphosa co-chaired the presidential segment of the Namibia-South Africa Bi-National Commission meeting at State House.

The senior officials from the two countries formally submitted the 2016 report on the Orange River Boundary Negotiations during the ministerial meeting of the Bi-National Commission for consideration.

This is due to the Commission noting that an opportunity has not presented itself for the joint report to be formally presented to the respective ministers because of postponements since 2018.

The report, among others, contains the draft terms of reference of the Namibia-South Africa Joint Committee of Experts, tasked with making recommendations to and advising the ministers on the Orange River boundary.

Following closed-door discussions, the hope now is for a solution that is acceptable to all parties.

Namibia's stance is that the boundary of the river should fall in the middle of the river, in line with international law governing shared river boundaries.

South Africa, on the other hand, is still sticking to the 1890 treaty signed between Britain and Germany, which demarcates the border at the northern bank of the river.

The negotiations have been ongoing since the Nelson Mandela presidency and have experienced a number of setbacks.