Staff Reporter
Windhoek-President of the People’s Republic of China Xi Jinping has sent a congratulatory message to his Namibian counterpart Hage Geingob, saying he would like to extend his sincere congratulations and best wishes to the Namibian leader and his people on the 27th anniversary of independence.
Namibia yesterday marked its 27th independence anniversary at an event held at Rundu where Geingob and the founding father of the Namibian nation, Dr Sam Nujoma, led thousands of people, among them Cabinet ministers, members of the diplomatic fraternity and ordinary Namibians.
“In recent years China-Namibia relations have maintained a sound momentum of development and the friendly and mutually beneficial cooperation in various fields has yielded fruitful results, bringing tangible benefits to both peoples. I highly value the development of China-Namibia relations and wish to work together with you to deepen the traditional friendship of our two countries and the cooperation in various fields, as well as uplift bilateral relations to a new level,” stated Xi.
He furthermore wished prosperity to the Namibian nation that enjoys what has been described as an all-weather friendship from the days of the liberation struggle when China firmly gave military and political support to the then liberation movement Swapo when it was fighting for independence.
Deheng Feng, the Second Secretary who also serves as the Director of Political Affairs at the Embassy of the People’s Republic of China in Namibia, also stressed that the friendship between the two countries was forged during Namibia’s independence struggle against the apartheid colonial regime.
He said that during that dark period the Chinese selflessly fought side by side with Namibian cadres, and also emphasised that China and Namibia have over the past 27 years enjoyed a friendship that is based on mutual interest.
Deheng said China is willing to assist Namibia in its quest for industrialisation and to fulfil its Harambee Prosperity Plan (HPP) initiated by Geingob so that there is social progression, effective governance, economic advancement, poverty alleviation, and vocational education and training.
A large number of Namibian students have either completed training at universities in China in the fields of agriculture, medicine, engineering or other priority fields, while others have benefited from an exchange programme that has seen hundreds of Namibians being sent to China on short courses.
Chinese investments have created several hundreds of jobs in mining and other sectors across Namibia.