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Namibia commits to keeping regional trade active

Namibia commits to keeping regional trade active

Namibia will continue to keep ports and harbours open in order to facilitate the movement of goods to landlocked neighbours and beyond, President Hage Geingob said on last week on Frida.

Geingob said this while addressing regional heads of states via a virtual meeting with heads of states from South Africa, Angola, Lesotho, Eswatini, Mozambique and Zimbabwe. The meeting was facilitated by South African President and African Union chairperson, Cyril Ramaphosa.

“Covid-19 is a global pandemic and requires coordinated regional, Pan-African and global action. During this difficult period, Namibia recognizes how interdependent and how interconnected we are as neighbours,” Geingob said.

During the meeting, Geingob updated the leaders on the state of Covid-19 in Namibia, highlighting that the closure of points of entry and restrictions on the movement of people at the start of the first lockdown on 28 March helped contain the spread of the virus.

“The incidence curve flattened at 16 cases, with 9 recoveries up to date. I should also add that there have been no community transmissions and no Covid-19 related deaths in Namibia,” Geingob added.

The President further said Namibia further seeks to strike a balance between protecting life on the one hand and economic activity on the other, adding that the State of Emergency, which he declared
on 17 March 2020 remains in force for a period of 6 months and may be extended, subject to the data available on Covid-19 cases.

Namibia is currently in its more relaxed lockdown stage 2, which commenced on Tuesday 05 May 2020, a period envisaged to last until 2 June 2020 and expected to graduate to stages 3 and 4 subject to tangible improvements on the ground.


 

About The Author

Donald Matthys

Donald Matthys has been part of the media fraternity since 2015. He has been working at the Namibia Economist for the past three years mainly covering business, tourism and agriculture. Donald occasionally refers to himself as a theatre maker and has staged two theatre plays so far. Follow him on twitter at @zuleitmatthys