Staff Reporter
Windhoek
The visit to Namibia by Zhang Gaoli, China’s first deputy premier, concluded on Monday with a meeting at State House, where he had a closed-door meeting with President Hage Geingob, which culminated in Namibia and China signing several bilateral agreements related to the airport road and for the construction of schools.
The high-level visit by Zhang, a member of the standing committee of the political bureau of the central committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and the first deputy premier of the State Council was the first of this magnitude in a period of six years, Chinese Ambassador to Namibia Zhang Yiming had said in an interview prior to the Chinese vice premier’s visit.
At State House on Monday evening, the director-general of National Planning Commission and Minister of Economic Planning Tom Alweendo (signed three bilateral cooperation agreements with China’s international trade representative and Vice Minister of Commerce Fu Ziying.
The agreements relate to economic and technical cooperation between China and Namibia, as well as a memorandum of understanding on human resource development cooperation and, thirdly, an exchange of letters on the feasibility study of four rural school projects funded by China.
The agreement on economic and technical cooperation, which is related to the upgrading of the road between Windhoek and the Hosea Kutako International Airport (HKIA) was also signed.
Nampa quoted the Chinese first deputy premier, who left the country yesterday, as having told President Geingob that the two countries need to work more closely “to benefit both our people”.