WINDHOEK – Following a successful session of the joint commission of cooperation (JCC) between Namibia and Guinea (Conakry) in Windhoek this week, the two countries signed three bilateral agreements in the areas mining, agriculture, and tourism.
The three agreements were signed yesterday at State House during the two-day state visit by Guinean President Alpha Condé to Namibia at the invitation of President Hage Geingob.
The signing of the three agreements was slightly delayed because some Guinean ministers could not make it on time due to their Air Namibia flight being cancelled.
This did not go down well with Geingob, who tore into the national airline for its cancellation of the flight – saying it should get its house in order before even thinking of having stopovers in Guinea as mooted.
“Air Namibia is failing us,” a clearly agitated Geingob said, adding “…it’s not the first time they cancelled the flights and people missed their flights.”
An Air Namibia official told New Era yesterday that flying at the scheduled time did not make commercial sense to the struggling airline.
Geingob said Condés’ visit is a stepping stone for future cooperation between Namibia and Guinea, as both countries are now in the process of elevating their existing historical and political relations to higher heights through increased bilateral exchanges in various strategic economic sectors such as trade, investment, tourism, agriculture, and mining among others.
“Our bilateral cooperation should serve as a building block that will bring Sadc and Ecowas closer together. This type of cooperation is crucial in advancing our quest to realise the aspirations of Agenda 2063 and continental integration we all yearn for,” Geingob noted.
The state visit by Condé is of a reciprocal nature, following a visit to Guinea by Geingob in 2018.
During last year’s visit, Geingob signed four agreements – including the framework agreement for cooperation, the agreement on the establishment of a joint commission, a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on political and diplomatic cooperation and an MoU on reciprocal exemptions of visas for holders of diplomatic and official passports.
Namibia’s International Relations and Cooperation Minister Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah told both heads of state that the inaugural session of the JCC took stock of and initiated bilateral cooperation between the two countries in the sectors of trade, mines, and renewable energy, agriculture, food production, and forestry, cultural and eco-tourism, poverty eradication and social welfare.
Also agreed on was to share best practices and benchmarking in economic planning, as well as higher education, training an innovation.
However, the two countries only managed to sign three bilateral agreements in the areas of mining, tourism, and agriculture.
She said to operationalise the agreements, there will be a joint technical committee that will monitor the implementation of these MoUs.
The first JCC between the two countries deliberated on various political and diplomatic issues, as well as economic matters of mutual concern and benefit.
Condé applauded Namibia, saying Windhoek is a clean city. He is expected to visit Meatco today, before he departs for Walvis Bay to tour some fish processing plants.