Namibia, Cuba to further bilateral relations as Joint Working Group sessions commence
The Deputy Minister of International Relations and Cooperation, Dr. Peya Mushelenga, welcomed Cuba’s Deputy Minister of Foreign Trade and Foreign Investment, to the 3rd Session of the Namibia-Cuba Joint Working Group (JWG) this week in Windhoek.
According to Mushelenga the main objective of the visit is to review the progress of the bilateral relations in order to strengthen and deepen economic and trade relations between both countries in line with the mandate given by their leaders.
“This serves as a platform where two countries identified areas of cooperation such as health, trade and investment, tourism, agriculture, fisheries, energy and education,” he emphasized. He informed that the meeting will also allow them to review how mush they have advanced since the 2nd session of JWG, as well as to identify new areas of cooperation which could contribute to the realization of the political aspirations of the two governments.
He noted that huge strides have been made in the health and fishers sector as well as reciprocal visits. “We are grateful for the two scholarships in the field of medicine offered by the Cuban government for the 2017/2018 Academic Year,” he said.
He said that the Ministry of Urban and Rural Development on the Namibian side and UNECA on the Cuban side have agreed to retain and extend their term for further one year of the 5 of the 17 professionals whose term of service is coming to an end in December 2017.
“The purpose of this arrangement is to allow for a smooth transfer of local knowledge and easy acclimatization of the new group,” he said.
Meanwhile, Mushelenga hopes that their discussions will bring fruitful Agreements and Memorandum of Understand that are implementable with tangible results for the mutual benefits of the people of the two countries.
