Press Release
State Visit of President of Namibia to India
28/08/2009
At the invitation of Rashtrapatiji, the President of the Republic of Namibia, H.E. Hifikepunye Pohamba is paying a State Visit to India from August 30 to September 3, 2009. He is accompanied by the First Lady and a 43-member delegation which includes five Ministers, senior officials, representatives of Chambers of Commerce and Industry, businessmen and media. This is President Pohamba's first visit to India. This is also the first incoming State visit in the second term of the UPA government and is part of our new outreach to Africa.
President Pohamba will call on Rashtrapatiji and would hold official talks with Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh. The Vice-President, the Leader of Opposition and Chairperson, UPA will call on him.
Several agreements/MoUs for institutionalizing bilateral cooperation are expected to be signed during the visit.
Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM), Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) are jointly organizing an interaction with the Indian business community for the visiting Namibian delegation in New Delhi.
The delegation will also visit Agra, Bengaluru and Mumbai. In Bengaluru, the delegation will be visiting Hindustan Aeronautics Limited, Infosys and Tata B.P Solar Plant (Electronic City). In Mumbai, the delegation will visit Tata show room at Worli and Tata Institute of Fundamental Research. The Indo-African Chamber of Commerce and Industry is organizing a business luncheon for the visiting delegation in Mumbai.
Namibia is home to around 2.07 million people and is located in the southern part of Africa bordering Angola, Botswana, Zambia, Zimbabwe and South Africa. India and Namibia enjoy friendly and mutually supportive ties. Both countries have excellent interaction in various international fora, including the UN, NAM and Commonwealth and share a commonality of views on major international issues such as UN Reforms and combating international terrorism. Namibia has consistently expressed its support for India's candidature for Permanent Membership of an expanded UNSC.
The Namibian Government expressed its solidarity with and full support for India on the terrorist attacks in Mumbai in November 2008.
India has executed a number of projects in Namibia including plastic demonstration centres, biogas units and solar power plants. India had gifted tractors and diesel engine pumps to the Namibian agriculture sector and 20 incubators to the Indira Gandhi Maternity Clinic in Namibia. Namibia regularly avails of training facilities under our ITEC programme in various fields. Several Indian ITEC experts have been involved with policy formulation in the country since independence.
New Delhi
August 28, 2009