Namibia and Germany signed an agreement on financial cooperation for a loan of €10 million (approximately N$190 million) on Friday.
This follows negotiations on developmental cooperation between the government’s of both countries in 2023.
The agreement was signed by minister of finance and public enterprise Iipumbu Shiimi and German ambassador Thorsten Hutter in Windhoek, according to an embassy press release.
The funds are to support the establishment of Namibia’s Urban Development Fund, the press release reads.
The loan will supplement a 2021-grant of €7 million (approximately N$134 million) from the German development bank KfW, which was disbursed with the same aim.
The establishment of an Urban Development Fund through bilateral cooperation with development partners is one of the goals set out in late president Hage Geingob’s Harambee Prosperity Plan II.
According to the government website for the plan, the project’s status is 69% complete.
The Namibian and German governments in 2021 agreed to cooperate “to establish new and improve existing inclusive and sustainable urban development concepts for Namibia’s informal settlements,” according to the embassy press release.
“These concepts aim to improve numerous challenges of these settlements, including the lack of basic services and infrastructure.”
The new loan is to support the establishment of “a sustainable financing mechanism to develop a blueprint for upgrading informal settlements that can be replicated countrywide,” reads the press release.
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