Belgium and Namibia want to deepen bilateral trade

Belgium’s prime minister Alexander De Croo on Friday paid President Hage Geingob a courtesy visit to discuss ways to deepen bilateral trade and investment relations between Namibia and Belgium.

A statement issued by the presidency on Sunday said De Croo paid the courtesy visit to Geingob on the margins of the 76th session of the United Nations (UN) General Assembly in New York.

According to the statement, the meeting covered issues of international and domestic interest, including the need for global cooperation and action to tackle challenges such as climate change and the Covid-19 pandemic.

Geingob emphasised the need to scale up climate-friendly technologies, especially green hydrogen, which could play an important role in decarbonisation.

The statement said with regards to the Covid-19 pandemic, both leaders agreed more must be done to ensure all countries, particularly those in the developing world, have equitable access to vaccines to save lives and ensure economic recovery.

In response, De Croo reiterated Belgium’s support for efforts to develop manufacturing capacity on the African continent and offered to expand the bilateral dialogue on Covid-19 related assistance to Namibia to include vaccines produced in Belgium.

Further, Geingob and De Croo agreed to continue discussions on how to strengthen relations between Namibia and Belgium by putting in place a series of agreements that could boost bilateral cooperation and investments across various sectors, including agreements relating to double taxation.

The UN General Assembly is the main policy-making organ of the United Nations.

The 76th session of the UN General Assembly opened on 14 September and was scheduled to end Monday.

- Nampa