Geingob welcomes Chinese loans

PRESIDENT Hage Geingob says Chinese loans will be crucial to supplement the government’s efforts to revive Namibia’s economy.

Presidential spokesperson Alfredo Hengari confirmed this in a statement issued on Saturday that summarised a call between Geingob and Chinese president Xi Jinping the previous day.

According to the statement, Geingob believes “substantial investments, increased grants and favourable loan assistance from our all-weather friend China will be crucial and most welcome to complement our ongoing internal efforts, to help revive the growth of our economy and save expected massive employment losses”.

Geingob spoke to Xi Jinping on the telephone and thanked the Chinese leader for funding a new Namibian airport construction project.

He said Namibia would return for more help.

The Presidency’s statement said Geingob “expressed appreciation towards his counterpart for having approved the special financial package to help Namibia commence with plans to modernise and expand its main airport to international standards”.

According to the statement, “the terms for the construction of the airport are favourable and Namibia looks forward to urgent commencement and completion of the project in the coming years”.

Of all government projects, Geingob referred specifically to the airport upgrade loan.

“We would like to express our appreciation for the special financial package for our main airport. We are very happy to know about the package to help us build our new airport,” the president said.

He indicated the new airport would put China’s assistance to Namibia in the public view.

“We must still come back because of this crisis to ask for more benefits in that relationship regarding the airport,” Geingob said.

The previous Hosea Kutako International Airport upgrade project tender – valued at around N$7 billion – was cancelled four years ago after allegations of corruption and bribery.

While China has faced global condemnation on how it initially handled the novel coronavirus outbreak, Geingob lauded the country’s response to the health crisis.

“Your country’s handling of that situation which has been declared by WHO [World Health Organisation] as a pandemic should not be blamed on any country,” he said.

Geingob also thanked Xi for helping 500 Namibian students in China.

The president further informed Xi that Namibia now has 14 confirmed novel coronavirus infections, which has since risen to 16.

“We are a small and developing country. We need support from our best friends to deal with this pandemic that we don’t know how to handle,” Geingob said.

He also said Namibia wanted to learn about poverty eradication from China.

“We would like to thank you very much, comrade president,” he said.

Chinese state-run mouthpiece Xinhua reported over the weekend Xi promised Geingob his country would increase efforts to provide anti-epidemic assistance to Namibia and other African countries.

This includes sharing experience in epidemic prevention and control, and strengthening partnerships in the health sector.

“We believe by jointly fighting the epidemic, China’s friendship with Namibia and African countries will further deepen,” Xinhua quoted the Chinese president.

“China is willing to work with Namibia to take the opportunity of the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between our two countries to continue to understand and support each other, strengthen pragmatic cooperation, and push China-Namibia and China-Africa relations to a new level.”

China’s huge interest in the Namibian airport deal was not surprising – especially after warnings by experts on how the Asian superpower works.

Brahma Chellaney, a professor of strategic studies at the New Delhi-based Centre for Policy Research in India, warned in 2017 of China’s tactic of using infrastructure loans to advance its empire.

Then finance minister Calle Schlettwein said in 2018 the Namibian government owed the Chinese government around N$2 billion.

“In a sense it is even better for China that the projects don’t do well. After all, the heavier the debt burden on smaller countries, the greater China’s own leverage becomes,” he stressed.