Saudi Arabia asks for Namibia’s support
Ashley Nyambe SAUDI Arabia intends to make a bid to host the 2030 World Expo and therefore seeks Namibia’s support to make that goal a reality.
This was one of the matters that was discussed during a courtesy visit between President Hage Geingob and the Advisor of the Royal Court of Saudi Arabia, Ahmed Kattan, on Friday. “We will surprise everybody, God willing, and we are preparing ourselves for that event,” Kattan said. Kattan also shared that Saudi Arabia is preparing to host two other summits this year: the Saudi-African Summit and the Arab-African Summit.
This, he added, is to support and further enhance Saudi Arabia’s relationship with all African countries. Kattan also said that Saudi Arabia is aware that Namibia has a lot of investment opportunities and thus indicated that Saudi Arabia is interested in investing in these opportunities.
He suggested a conference call with other African countries to further discuss investment prospects. President Geingob agreed to support Saudi Arabia in their quest to host the 2030 World Expo and thanked Kattan for going through the trouble of meeting him in person, saying “that in itself shows the high regard that you have for African leaders, that you were sent to come in person just to ask about support”.
The Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of International Relations and Cooperation, Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah, seconded the President’s statement and said that Namibia is looking forward to the 2030 World Expo as she believes that the Expo is very important for sustainable development. “Both countries have agreed to strengthen bilateral cooperation and as you know this is one of the countries that has been supporting the people of Namibia, even during the difficult days of our liberation struggle.
And that’s the basis that our current cooperation is based on,” Nandi-Ndaitwah added. During the meeting, Geingob also stated that he will be travelling to Davos in Switzerland on Sunday for the annual World Economic Forum.
