Staff Reporter
Windhoek
The Ambassador of China to Namibia Zhang Yiming has equated Namibia’s action plan for inclusive prosperity – the Harambee Prosperity Plan (HPP) – to the ‘Two Centenaries’ – the Chinese set of goals.
Embraced by the ruling Communist Party of China (CPC), the Two Centenaries ideology is the brainchild of Chinese President Xi Jinping. It forms the foundation for achieving the “Chinese Dream” and similar to HPP, aims at inclusive prosperity.
China’s Two Centenary Goals and Namibia’s Harambee Prosperity Plan and Vision 2030 have a lot in
common, Zhang said yesterday.
The ambassador noted that both countries face common challenges in promoting their economies, improving people’s livelihood and coping with complex international affairs.
China’s massive economic development should provide an opportunity for Namibia, a country that the world’s second largest military and economic powerhouse regards as an all-weather ally.
Zhang urged the two countries that share historical diplomatic and bilateral relations to “learn from each other and to cooperate more”.
The ambassador further said that China-Namibia relations take priority in China’s African policy and that even the 19th Congress of the CPC reiterated that China would continue to consolidate its friendship with Namibia.
“A series of big projects, such as Husab Mine, Walvis Bay Port expansion, youth training centre and command and staff college are the best embodiments of China-Namibia pragmatic cooperation.
“And our friendship is also vividly depicted by the Confucius Institute of UNAM, Chinese medical team and hundreds of Namibian overseas students in China,” the Chinese ambassador stressed.
He further underlined that “China and Namibia should learn from each other and cooperate more, so that our relations could become more close, and the friendly feelings between our people could get deeper. It is time we build the community of shared future for our people and embrace a new era of China-Namibia relations.”
On a global scale, he noted that China would continue to uphold the principles of mutual respect, fairness, justice and offer win-win solutions, as well as deal with international affairs with more positive and confident diplomatic gestures.
he said China would always be a builder of world peace, a contributor to global development and defender of the global order and peace.
“China will work with the rest of the world to actively cope with climate change, promote economic globalisation and trade liberalisation, and advocate [for] an open world economy,” he stated.
Zhang said China was able to feed and clothe its population of 1.3 billion people. It has lifted 800 million people out of poverty and China’s expected per capita GDP in 2017 is US$9,480.
Last week President Hage Geingob praised the CPC for its efforts in transforming China into an economic powerhouse. He said CPC has spearheaded the unprecedented and inspirational transformation of China from a largely rural society into a modern, technologically advanced metropolitan state.
Geingob made the remarks in his congratulatory message to Chinese President Xi Jinping on the occasion of the CPC’s 19th Ordinary Congress that ends today.