2016-10-21Staff Report 2 Windhoek The US ambassador to Namibia is of the opinion that President Hage Geingob’s three-week visit to America has yielded positive results and said he would do his best to encourage investors from that country to attend the upcoming investors’ conference. According US Ambassador Thomas Daughton, he had the opportunity to hear Geingob detail his many meetings in the US in a bid to market to Namibia and lure businesspeople to the investment conference in Namibia planned for November. “I had an opportunity to get a much-more detailed explanation from the president about his visit and what he accomplished... Although we were aware of it from much of the media reporting here, I think it was a successful trip,” Daughton told reporters after a closed-door meeting with Geingob at State House on Tuesday. “The main goal [of the trip], I think, which is also one of ours, is that he succeeded in attracting potential investors and potential trading partners to come to the investors’ conference and that appears to have gone very well,” he noted. “So now based on the information that he gave I can on my end work to encourage good attendance of the conference.” On US-Africa trade policy, Daughton shared his conviction that the US has shown keen interest in promoting more trade - particularly with Namibia - for a number of years now. “Namibia is eligible [for preferential trade concessions] under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) and we have been looking for ways to open up new avenues of trade.” He was also of the opinion that the most promising trade avenue in that respect is the mooted export of Namibian beef to the US. “This was a subject of discussion in the US, because Namibia would be eligible and I think that is an opportunity for Namibian businesses to sell in the US and to increase our two-way trade.” While in the US, Geingob also spoke at the 71st session of United Nations General Assembly and officiated at a major forum organised by the Constituency for Africa (CFA), which sets the agenda for the next US American administration on Africa-US investment and trade relations. Geingob was also keynote speaker on behalf of Africa at the CFA 2016 Ronald H. Brown African Affairs Series at a roundtable session, entitled ‘Increasing US-Africa Trade and Investment.’ He afterwards addressed the Africa Policy Forum and co-chaired that meeting of policymakers, scholars, students and the general public at University of George Washington Elliott School of International Relations. He also attended the official dinner of the Clinton Global Coalition Annual Convention as a guest of President Barack Obama. Apart from his formal address to the UN General Assembly on 21 September, President Geingob also delivered the keynote address at the Namibia Investment Forum. 2016-10-21Staff Report 2
