Obrein Simasiku
Namibia is working towards penetrating the United States (US) market by improving and expanding its export trade with America.
Last year Namibia exported goods worth US$72,839 million, mainly diamonds, building stones, beef and flours among others. In the same vein, Namibia imported goods valued at US$168,966 million consisting mainly of meat and edible offal of fowls, pneumatic tyres and rubbers, and chemical products among others.
This was revealed by the Minister of Industrialisation and Trade (MIT) Lucia Iipumbu, at the opening of a multi-sectoral business seminar attended hosted in conjunction with the Namibia Embassy in Washington DC.
The two nations have interests in Renewable Energy, Infrastructure Development, Education, Emerging Technologies, Mining and Oil and Gas upstream exploration, Agriculture, Diamond Cutting & Polishing and Construction of low-cost housing. Namibia is keen to maximize potential in trade, investments and skills transfer through market access, strengthening technical assistance and capacity building initiatives.
“Namibia needs these economic relations and business affiliations to provide fertile ground not only for foreign direct investment (FDI) but also for it to contribute towards economic development, which includes technological transfer, skills development, value addition and industrialisation. Namibia is a vast country with enormous natural resources, however, our economy is largely still undiversified and is also yet to tap fully in the area of services trade and investment,” said Iipumbu.
She invited US businesses to consider opportunities in agriculture especially agro processing, energy with special focus on renewable energy and green hydrogen, manufacturing such as pharmaceutical as well in the services sectors such as health provision, telecommunications, logistics. “These sectors hold a lot of opportunities for trade and investment. Namibia is not only seeking FDI, but also market access for our local products by expanding the volume of bilateral trade, through the promotion of the country as a gateway.”
In 2019, Iipumbu said, she had a wish to export beef to the US, and that materialised complimenting beer and charcoal. This was done through the implementation of the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA). Thus, she said, under phase two of AGOA, goods and products such as fish, table grapes, dates, marble and home décor products and medicinal use of the devil’s claw, among others, are identified as priority trading sectors.
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