China will prioritise agriculture and vocational education as its key focus regarding the country’s relations with Namibia.
The deputy director general of Jiangsu province’s foreign affairs office in China, Yang Jing, told a Namibian media delegation who recently toured the Asian country that agriculture and vocational training should be the focus of the cooperation between the two countries, based on China’s past experience.
Several Namibian media practitioners were taken on a seven-day study tour to enhance understanding of China in the areas of economic development, innovation-oriented enterprises, and media operations.
The delegation visited key industrial parks, media organisations, innovation incubators and enterprises with local characteristics in three cities of Jiangsu province, namely Nanjing, Yangzhou and Suzhou.
“From our past experience, talent is key to the development of a certain area. We have already built an exchange centre for vocational education in Namibia, and we hope to upgrade it in the future to a workshop to help train more technical talent for Namibia to promote your development,” Yang said.
China and Namibia have deep-rooted ties dating back to Namibia’s liberation struggle.
The two countries continued to build their relationship in the past 33 years of Namibia’s independence.
Yang said Jiangsu and Namibia share a special bond as they are sister provinces.
“We tied this relationship in 2015, and we have another five pairs of sister relations at municipal level,” she said.
She said such relations have provided a great platform for the two nations to exchange communication across sectors, including education, health, sport and economic trade collaboration.
“In the future, we look forward to closer and in-depth cooperation between the two countries,” Yang said.
According to her, Namibia and China have a long history of friendship, which is the legacy of the founding fathers of the two nations.
“We have inherited this legacy, and now we have formed a comprehensive strategic partnership, and we are carrying these friendly relations to a brighter future,” she said.
She said the media delegation visiting China will benefit Namibia and China as they act as a bridge between the two nations, helping to provide a better understanding of the people of both countries.
Yang said Namibia must find a path that is specifically tailored for it to become an industrial hub in Africa.
“As for China, we have pursued the path of what we called Chinese modernisation, which is the modernisation of a huge population of common prosperity, harmony between men and nature, and peaceful development,” she said.
The head of the media delegation, Talah Shiwayu, said the participants has learnt a lot from the tour.
He said the group was encouraged by how China has developed while at the same time preserving its identity through tradition.
“We have seen and touched items used by the Chinese, which is a great experience,” he said.
Shiwayu said the advanced media technology the group has witnessed has given them an idea of how to improve and build better media practices.
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