Namibia welcomes investment from China

Ms. Neumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of International Relations and Cooperation of Namibia in Beijing, April 12, 2017.[Cong Ruiting/chinadaily.com.cn]

Industrialization and innovation is the only way to get Namibians out of poverty and joint ventures, especially those from China, should take a lead, Ms Neumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of International Relations and Cooperation of Namibia, said in a meeting with the media on 12, April during her three-day visit in Beijing.

Namibia is home to more than 40 Chinese companies with an annual investment of $4.6 billion, according to Chinese Ambassador to Namibia Xin Shunkang. The ambassador pointed out that Chinese companies employ more than 6,000 Namibians and the current value of Chinese companies' investments in Namibia is about $3 billion.

When talking about innovation, Ms Nandi-Ndaitwah expressed her hopes to develop Namibia under international cooperation through education, trade and joint ventures given the history of the Southwestern African country.

"That is why we pay more attention to education during cooperation with China and other countries thus our people could learn necessary skills. Also we underline the technology which is the root of innovation," Deputy Prime Minister Nandi-Ndaitwah said.

In 2015, a primary school built by the Chinese NGO China Youth Development Foundation (CYDF) made education accessible for over 600 children from the San community of Namibia.

Currently, over 200 students are studying in China. More than 100 of them are receiving training in China to become medical practitioners, according to the Namibia Embassy in China.

In a recent Global Entrepreneurship Index ranking released by Opinium and the Mara Foundation, Namibia tops other African countries for education strength. The index relies on 25 factors across five broad pillars: government policy, infrastructure, entrepreneurial environment, education and finance.

"As a developing country, the development of China is eye-catching and it plays as a leading goose for the developing nations across the world," Deputy Prime Minister Nandi-Ndaitwah said.

At the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation in December 2015 held in South Africa's Johannesburg, China announced it would support Africa with $60 billion.

According Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, China-Africa cooperation is undergoing three shifts, namely from government-driven to market-driven, from trading goods to cooperation on production capacity, and from engineering contracts to capital investment and operations, in response to Africa's needs.

"We cherish the friendship of China and welcome the exchanges of the two peoples at different levels, from government, party and normal civilians," Ms Nandi-Ndaitwah said.