Kuzeeko Tjitemisa
The Emir of the state of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, has hailed Namibia’s governance architecture, saying the country is among the best on the continent and that they are confident their investment will be in good hands.
According to presidential press secretary Alfredo Hengari, the emir said this during a meeting with President Hage Geingob and his delegation on Monday where they discussed issues of bilateral concern, including, agriculture, the fight against Covid-19 and tourism.
“The emir noted that they respect the Namibian government saying that its governance architecture is among the best on the continent and that they are confident their investment is in good hands,” Hengari said in a statement on Monday, adding that the emir of Qatar also promised Geingob to send in a team from the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) to explore additional areas of investment in Namibia.
A consortium comprising QatarEnergy, Shell and National Petroleum Corporation of Namibia (Namcor), have established the presence of a working petroleum system with light oil in the Graff-1 well in the Orange Basin, offshore Namibia.
QatarEnergy is also partner with TotalEnergies, Impact Oil and Gas, and Namcor in another significant light oil and associated gas discovery in the Venus-1X prospect located in block 2913B in the Orange Basin, offshore southern Namibia.
Geingob and his delegation which includes mines and energy minister, Tom Alweendo, defence and veterans affairs minister Frans Kapofi and presidential economic advisor, James Mnyupe are in Qatar on a three-day official visit.
Hengari said, in particular, the emir expressed interest for his team to visit Namibia and to explore potential areas of investment in infrastructure, energy and housing.
On his part, Hengari said Geingob highlighted various areas of potential interest, including the airport, seaport and energy-related infrastructure that could be explored.
“Green schemes and the Neckartal Dam were also considered potential areas of collaboration,” Hengari said.
He said Geingob also praised the professional manner in which Qatar had conducted themselves in their appraisal of their energy interest, noting that Namibia is a country of processes, systems and institutions and he was pleased that the President was not their first stop, but rather Qatar Energy followed a transparent and objective manner of deploying capital in Namibia.
He said the minister of energy and state affairs of Qatar expressed his excitement, noting that the area had the potential of more than six billion barrels of oil and that Qatar Energy was excited to invest the requisite capital to reach commercial viability.
“A key aspect to be developed to facilitate this additional investment included deliberations about double taxation agreements which would be key to provide the requisite security to the prospective Qatari investment,” Hengari said.
Qatar’s economic prosperity is derived from the extraction and export of petroleum, discovered in 1939 and first produced in 1949, and natural gas. The country has a rising international profile, which was even propelled higher when it was awarded hosting rights for the 2022 Football World Cup.