Deputy Prime Minister and minister of industries, mines and energy, Natangwe Ithete has called on Africans to be self-reliant.

Ithete, who is the chairperson of the African Regional Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction Bureau, was speaking during the 2025 Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction event in Geneva, Switzerland on Monday.

The event held from 02-06 June 2025 is being attended by delegates from various nations. It is organised by the African Union Commission (AUC) and the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) to validate the draft Africa Common Position to the Global Platform 2025.

In his remarks, the chair affirmed that Namibia remains devoted to assisting the AUC and UNDRR in acquiring endorsement of the Common Position by AU Policy Organs, and to ensuring its implementation at all levels.

He highlighted that the Common Position ensures that African delegates speak with one voice at the Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction (GP2025) amplifying Africa’s common concerns and ambitions on the global stage.

“Fellow Africans, let us do away with the chronic dependence on superpowers! While we remain grateful for assistance from elsewhere, we are also cognisant that the world is ever-changing,” Ithete urged in his statement availed to Nampa.

Ithete cautioned that Africans must draw a lesson from the continuous defunding by the United States of America and that self-reliance must be what Africans should work for.

“The ongoing cut of US funding across sectors should be a lesson learned and warning for us all to work toward self-reliance through domesticated investment and strengthened efforts in disaster risks reduction and management,” Ithete warned.
-Nampa