WINDHOEK – President Hage Geingob says there is vast room for improvement of the trade relations between Namibia and Guinea, especially in the area of mining and geology, agriculture, manufacturing and food processing.
He made the remarks during the two-day state visit by President of the Republic of Guinea Alpha Condé to Namibia at the invitation of Geingob.
The state visit, which started on Wednesday, ended yesterday.
Following a successful session of the Joint Commission of Cooperation (JCC) between Namibia and the Republic of Guinea in Windhoek this week, the two countries during the state visit signed three bilateral agreements in the areas mining, agriculture, and tourism to improve trade relations.
As Chairperson of Southern Africa Development Community (Sadc), Geingob said Namibia trusts that through continued cooperation between their Regional Economic Communities (RECs), Africa will enhance its long-standing efforts to create an enabling environment for economic growth and prosperity.
He noted Sadc will continue to support the efforts to devise new investment strategies and trade practices for the benefit of all Africans.
This, he says will include regional integration.
To date, Geingob confirmed that the Cabinet of the Republic of Namibia, not only approved visa exemption for diplomatic and official passport holders from all African countries, but has equally followed through by signing the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on reciprocal exemption on visas for holders of official and diplomatic passports between Namibia and Guinea, which was announced during his state visit to Guinea in 2018.
“However, by easing cross-border movement of Africans within Africa, we will ensure that skilled and educated Africans are able to take their knowledge and expertise beyond the borders of their countries but remain on the continent. By so doing, we will talk of a new phenomenon in Africa; that of ‘brain gain,” Geingob said.
According to him, there is no doubt that the free movement of people is a quick win on development for countries, regions and the continent as a whole.
He expressed the roots of the Namibia – Guinea friendship run deep, adding it is a friendship forged during the time when extraordinary personalities across their continent took the bold decision to alter forever the destinies of Africa’s sons and daughters by uniting in solidarity, to fight for independence.
“Supported by a cohort of fearless men and women, ready to die for their freedom, luminaries like Ahmed Sékou Touré and other extraordinary personalities of his generation, helped turn the dream of a free Africa into a reality. The heroic feats of these extraordinary personalities helped inspire leaders in the settler colonies of Zimbabwe, South Africa, and Namibia to follow suit and pursue their own vision for independence,” he maintained.
Thereby, he said the founding fathers of Pan Africanism helped mold the likes of Zimbabwean former President Robert Mugabe, the late first South African President Nelson Mandela and Father of the Namibian nation Sam Nujoma.
He said it is due to this knowledge of their history that Namibia holds dear the moral and material support that the fraternal people of the Republic of Guinea rendered to African liberation movements in Southern Africa.