By Frederick Philander WINDHOEK The recent meeting between Queen Elizabeth II and President Hifikepunye Pohamba, as well as the general and presidential elections, were some of the highlights experienced during the tenure of the outgoing British High Commissioner. British High Commissioner to Namibia, Alasdair McDermott (61), who has been in this country for almost five years, is retiring on July 21. He and his wife will be going to Brussels where she will perform European Commission duties for another year before retiring. “The Queen first visited Namibia in 1991, an action already then that strengthened ties between our two countries. Last year’s visit by President Pohamba to Britain further strengthened that relationship,” the diplomat said. In his opinion, the country’s people are very friendly and he and his staff have had easy access to almost every ministerial and government department during his tenure. “I have always been made to feel welcome in this pleasant country. Hence the fact that I requested to stay a year longer in Namibia, especially at the time when my government started to cut back on British missions in Madagascar, Swaziland and Lesotho. It really was a great concern for me because I thought our High Commission in Namibia would have suffered the same fate. Fortunately it did not,” McDermott said. To him, Namibia is generally a peaceful and politically stable country. “The big voter turnout for the last general and presidential elections proved the political stability. However, I feel a new generation of young leaders should now step forward to take on the challenges of running the country as far as international trade for greater developmental possibilities is concerned,” he urged. Although Namibia has a splendid government system in place, it unfortunately lacks the necessary skills and capacity. “Skill acquirement remains a big problem in Namibia. That needs to be worked on for civil servants to be more able and capable to handle this system. We have been trying to provide opportunities on various levels to improve the skills and capacities of civil servants and will continue to do so,” he said with reference to the combating of illegal fishing in Namibian waters, the Namibian Defence Force and Namfisa. He praised efforts by the British Council to assist many post-graduate Namibians to improve their qualifications abroad. “These post-graduates are involved in most spheres of the economy and the education sectors of this country. Furthermore, I would like to see a greater emphasis on vocational and business training implemented in the Namibian education system. This will assist more young people to become positively involved in the small and medium business sector of the country,” he said. Britain and Namibia also have a good parliamentary relationship with the establishment of the British/Namibian Parliamentary Group through which a lot of skills are being transferred. “The tourism exchange between our countries has steadily increased from 3,000 British tourists in 2004 and about 20,000 in 2006. This is indicative that more British citizens are interested to visit this beautiful country with its unique landscapes,” said McDermott, who also urged that more industries be established if Namibia is to become an industrialized country.