By Desie Heita Windhoek The town councils of Oshakati and Tsumeb have signed a twinning agreement to cooperate in areas of economics, politics, environment, education and cultural exchange. The two towns want to have a learners’ exchange programme, with a possibility of sub-twinning schools. On culture, the two mayors are looking at the possibility of having special cultural festivals to share and exchange their different cultures. The Mayor of Oshakati, Katrina Shimbulu, said the signing of the twinning agreement “formalises and consolidates the friendship and cooperation where we will continue to engage in the provision of same technical and municipal experiences like emergency services, road infrastructure and maintenance and waste management.” The two towns have a developmental and capacity building programme that dates back to 1993, when three officials from Oshakati Town Council went for an induction and on-the-job training at Tsumeb Municipality. The Mayor of Tsumeb, Engelbrecht Nawatiseb, said Oshakati and Tsumeb already have an informal collaboration with children from Oshakati attending school in Tsumeb. “Apart from having these similar demographic advantages and cosmopolitan attraction, just like Tsumeb, there is a lot that our people can learn from each other, especially in areas of economic development,” said Nawatiseb. The two mayors signed the agreement on July 18 in Oshakati. “This visit was followed by a number of visits of similar nature in the areas of finance, human resources, road infrastructure and maintenance and solid waste. “Oshakati Town Council enjoyed and benefited a great deal in the said cooperation,” said Shimbulu. Shimbulu asked the representatives of the education, businesses and environment sectors in Oshakati to approach the Tsumeb Town Council to find out how they can benefit from the twining agreement. The Governor of the Oshana Region, Clemens Kashuupulwa, said the twinning agreement is a clear indication that the local authorities of Tsumeb and Oshakati “want to build their administrative and management capacities by sharing information, knowledge and technical know-how”. “Indeed this is a step in the right direction if we want to achieve our stated objectives as contained in Vision 2030 namely to make Namibia an industrialised nation with a vibrant sustainable economic development, which will benefit all our people,” said Governor Kashuupulwa.