In Windhoek, Namibia, Deputy Prime Minister, Presidential Plenipotentiary Envoy to the Far Eastern Federal District and Chair of the Russian side of the Intergovernmental Russian-Namibian Commission on Trade and Economic Cooperation Yury Trutnev met with Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of International Relations and Cooperation of the Republic of Namibia, and Chair of the Namibian side of the commission, Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah.

“Four years through the coronavirus and the complications of holding international meetings could not but affect the intensity of our communication, and therefore cooperation. However, the Russian Federation continues to highly value our relations of friendship and cooperation, which bind us to our Namibian friends. I would like to thank you for the determination that the Namibian side has always shown in developing these relations. Like all of our work, today’s intersessional meeting will be devoted to developing cooperation between Russia and Namibia, which in turn is aimed at the prosperity of our peoples, strengthening friendship, and using mutual opportunities and advantages,” said Yury Trutnev.

“Namibia has long-lasting bilateral ties and cooperation with the Russian Federation. Cooperation between our two countries continues to strengthen and expand. Our meeting today is a demonstration of the political will of the two countries to continue this work,” said Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah.

The Intergovernmental Russian-Namibian Commission on Trade and Economic Cooperation is the main mechanism for developing bilateral economic cooperation.  It is a venue for practical and open discussion of business interaction. In March 2024, Russia will host the commission’s 10^th session. In anticipation of the session, the participants discussed current issues. They reviewed the implementation of the comprehensive roadmap for developing bilateral trade and economic cooperation in 2022-2025, which was signed in December 2021. The commission’s co-chairs noted that about a quarter of the projects included in the roadmap had already been carried out.

During the discussion of trade and economic interaction, the Russian side suggested intensifying cooperation in agriculture and aquaculture, energy, geological prospecting, education, personnel training, ICT and in the media.

The officials noted demand for the Russian language in Namibia. Today, about 2,000 Namibian citizens speak Russian to one degree or another. The Russia-Namibia Culture and Education Centre has been successfully operating at the International University of Management (IUM) in Windhoek since 2018.

The Russian side proposed expanding cooperation in sports and invited Namibian athletes to take part in sporting events held in Russia.

Humanitarian cooperation is becoming increasingly important. “In March 2024, Russia will host a large youth event – the World Youth Festival – on the President’s instruction. We hope young Namibians and the Minister of Sport, Youth and National Service will participate,” Yury Trutnev said.

Summing up the meeting, the Deputy Prime Minister of Russia stressed that the goal of the Russian-Namibian Commission for Trade and Economic Cooperation is to create conditions for people in Russia and Namibia to live better. “The goal is to preserve and develop our friendship, which has withstood the test of time. The goal is to develop cooperation in all areas. Today we discussed cooperation in the energy sector, agriculture and a number of other areas. We discussed our positions on the main issues concerning politics and humanitarian assistance. I must say that our countries’ positions on most issues of world politics coincide and we support each other. This is very important. Currently we are holding an inter-sessional meeting. We are preparing for the 10^th meeting of the commission, which will take place in Moscow next year, and today we tried to make sure that this commission had as much concrete work to do as possible. We have great prospects for cooperation. We will make good on them,” the Deputy Prime Minister said in conclusion.

On the same day, Yury Trutnev had a meeting with Vice President of Namibia Nangolo Mbumba.