Paulus Shiku
WINDHOEK – Speaker of the National Assembly Professor Peter Katjavivi last week gave a presentation to the students and staff of the Norwegian sailing campus at Walvis Bay.
Katjavivi updated New Era yesterday when he also issued a press statement regarding his visit to the Sørlandet, a Norwegian ship that docked at the port of Walvis Bay on January 2.
On board the world’s oldest fully rigged tall ship, the Sørlandet, commonly known as the ‘Pearl of Norway’, were the crew and 62 Grade 11 and 12 students, and their teachers. The ship was built in 1927 and is a sailing campus of the A+ World Academy, a mobile college that provides 10 months of rigorous academic teaching as well as fostering personal, social and cultural development in a global setting.
His presentaion focused on the history of Walvis Bay, its relevance to the world and where the name came from.
He also related the good relationship between Namibia and Norway to the students and staff of the ship.
“The name Walvis Bay, as you may already know, comes from the whales that were caught in the sea nearby. The Dutch started whaling around Walvis Bay 300 years ago, in 1720.”
“From the 1960s to 1990, a good number of Norwegians joined us in support of our struggle for the freedom and independence of Namibia. In the 1980s, the town of Elverum in Norway became an important centre for solidarity and support for our people’s struggle. Likewise, in Oslo the Norwegian Council for Southern Africa actively promoted the cause of freedom and independence in southern Africa. In more recent years, Walvis Bay has been twinned with Kristiansand,” said the former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Namibia.
The Speaker requested the leadership of the sailing college to consider including Namibian students in their programme in the future.
The professor said Norway has particularly assisted Namibia in the development of the fisheries and marine resources sector. This has been important to the economic development of Namibia, as the fishing sector was exploited by other countries before its independence, he told the students.
Katjavivi added that there is still room to strengthen this cooperation in the fishing sector through training and research.
The ship departed from Walvis Bay on Sunday, heading back across the Atlantic Ocean to Brazil. They will go onward from there to the USA.