President Nangolo Mbumba has expressed profound gratitude to Angolan president João Manuel Gonçalves Lourenço for the extraordinary material and emotional support his government provided to the people of Namibia following the passing of Namibia’s third president Hage G. Geingob on 4 February 2024.
President Mbumba praised Lourenço for his overwhelming presence during the state memorial and burial services for president Geingob.
Mbumba was in Angola on Monday on a one-day working visit.
In a media statement issued soon after he landed back home yesterday, President Mbumba explained that his choice to visit Angola for his first working visit outside the country was a long-standing tradition for Namibian presidents, and he was continuing in the footsteps of founding president Sam Nujoma, second president Hifikepunye Pohamba and the third late president Geingob.
President Mbumba assured Lourenço that he would continue working hard to strengthen the partnership and friendship between the people and governments of Namibia and Angola.
The two presidents underlined the need to strengthen cooperation in the areas of oil and gas, energy, agriculture and water.
President Mbumba underscored that Namibia had a lot to learn from Angola in the oil and gas sectors, and in that vein, the two presidents agreed to convene the Namibia-Angola Binational Commission in the coming months in order to scale-up mutually-beneficial cooperation between the two countries. Additionally, they agreed to inaugurate the Cassinga
Memorial in the coming few months.
Following bilateral talks with Lourenço, President Mbumba was taken through a tour of the Karam Group, a diversified company with steel, nails and pipes’ operations in Luanda and other parts of Angola, with some product exported to Namibia. The company expressed interest in investing in Namibia to set up similar operations to the amount of N$1 billion, with potential 350 employment opportunities for Namibians. The management team of the company informed the President that they had secured land in Windhoek, and were hoping to reach a stage where they would commence operations in the near future.
Prior to his return to Namibia, and in order to give effect to the Agreement on Cooperation in Petroleum and Natural Gas, Mbumba was taken on a tour of Sonangol Integrated Logistics Services (SONILS). SONILS was created in 1995 to provide logistical support and related services to the oil, gas and energy sectors. The President then encouraged the leadership of SONILS to work with their Namibian partners on the basis of a solid and transparent partnership for the benefit of both countries.
Moreover, President Mbumba congratulated Angola for the country’s election as First Vice President of the African Union Assembly Bureau, and pledged Namibia’s support to Angola in its bid to preside over the African Union in 2025.