Swaitex in full swing
The 2017 Swakopmund International Trade Expo (SWAITEX) commenced at the Dome in Swakopmund on Wednesday. With this year’s theme, “Embracing Innovation and Technology”, SWAITEX aims at providing businesses and the community with an opportunity to showcase their products and services.
Namibia’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of International Relations and Cooperation, Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah, opened the event and commended the organisers of SWAITEX for making it on the international stage.
“Namibia is part of the global village and we are now talking about the global economy. No economy can flourish in isolation”, she said in her opening address.
Nandi-Ndaitwah added trade expos like SWAITEX play an important role in the marketing of the country’s products. It is for this reason that Government supports expos, as they add value, particularly to our growing local production. At expos products are presented which have export potential.
In her capacity as Minister of International Relations and Cooperation, Nandi-Ndaitwah said value addition to African products is now more important than ever. Recently, African Heads of State and Governments took the decision that at least 25% of Africa’s raw materials should not leave the continent unprocessed.
“Therefore, Namibian business people must pay special attention to add value to our products”, she said. This will create the necessary jobs “instead of exporting jobs.”
According to Nandi-Ndaitwah, the global economic slowdown had a negative impact on the Namibian economy. “However, if we work together as public and the private sectors with one common goal of poverty eradication, our role to economic recovery will be manageable to the advantage of our own people”, she continued. Private public partnership (PPP) is possible, but needs to be done with honesty, transparency and a common purpose.
The Minister added Swakopmund is strategically located and can be a base of industrialisation. “Energy and water can be generated from this area, be it solar, wind or the waves. Sea water can be desalinated into agricultural, industrial and portable water. So, Swakopmund and Erongo can be one of the bread-baskets of this country”, she said.
Nandi-Ndaitwah also announced that Namibia has joined the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) Presidential Infrastructure Champion Initiative and that the country has submitted four projects: the Baynes Hydro Power Project; Trans-Kalahari Railway Line; Trans-Orange Corridor and Port of Lüderitz. “All these projects have been accepted and we are now in the process of finalising them so that we can evaluate how the development of these projects can speed up. If we invest in these projects, we will be able to realise the dream of vision 2030”, Ndaitwah concluded.
Caption. DSC2437: Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of International Relations and Cooperation during the opening ceremony of SWAITEX 2017.
DSC2442: FLTR. The Swakopmund Constituency Councillor Juuso Kambueshe, Former Mayor of Arandis and also Swapo’s Coordinator in Erongo, Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of International Relations and Cooperation, The Governor of Erongo region Cleophas Mutjavikua, the Mayor of Swakopmund Paulina Nashilundo and the Chairperson of the Namibia Chamber of Commerce and Industry (NCCI) in Swakopmund Paul Ndjambula during the ribbon cutting event which officiated SWAITEX 2017.
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