BY Busola Aro
Humphrey Geiseb, high commissioner of Namibia to Nigeria, says the volume of trade between both countries hits $10 million yearly.
Geiseb said this on Tuesday at a news conference in Abuja where he spoke on the country’s plans to strengthen bilateral trade between Namibia and Nigeria.
Geiseb said the relationship between the country has improved greatly, but more could still be done.
According to Geiseb, Nigeria has greatly supported Namibia and was at the forefront of the agitation for Namibia’s independence.
“Nigeria in the 1990s started the Technical Aid Corps assisting Namibian people in rural areas. Today over 4000 people resident in Namibia are Nigerians,” he said.
“Many of them are former Technical Aid Corps members who have chosen Namibia as their home after their contract expired.
“People to people contact between Namibians and Nigerians is quite high, and also, after independence, many Namibians are resident in Nigeria, but our number is minimal.
“Annually, we have 1,000 travellers from Nigeria to Namibia, most of them are tourists and people going for business.
“Officials do not need visas, because we have agreements between both governments, that government officials and diplomats do not need visas to travel between our two countries.
“Our trade is around $10 million a year and we are mainly exporting salt and electronics. There is a factory that has been built in Lagos to produce Namibian electronics.”
The high commissioner also said Namibia would have two charcoal businesses established in Namibia, also adding that the country will continue to be open for business for Nigerian investors.
“One is called premier charcoal owned by Businessman from Lagos, the other one is called Tin charcoal owned by business people from Abia,” he added.
“We have also registered a company that is dealing in musical equipment, they are looking forward to using Namibia as a base to distribute and sell musical equipment of international brand to South Africa.”
Geiseb further said a lot more could be done to further deepen Namibia-Nigeria bilateral cooperation, adding that the forthcoming joint commission cooperation will bolster outstanding projects for the country.
“The relationship between Namibia and Nigeria is indeed excellent. Our expectation is that hopefully in August 2022 we will have the next joint commission cooperation (JCC) between Namibia and Nigeria,” Geiseb added.
“The JCC will be able to put a number of win-win projects between Namibia and Nigeria on the table. This is the fifth time that this joint commission will be meeting and it has stood the test of time.
“It is a testimony of a strong relationship between them that has been in existence since the difficult days of independence.”
Geiseb also lauded the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCTA) initiative and the importance of overcoming challenges that hinder trade operations to strengthen trade among African countries.
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