(FOCAC) Interview: Namibia-China relations expected to grow from strength to strength, says senior official

Photo taken on May 18, 2018 shows a construction site at the port of Walvis Bay, western Namibia. (Xinhua/Lyu Tianran)

Strengthening the bilateral relationship "is our wish and our determination," Katjavivi said. "I am absolutely confident that this is what we want to see happening between our two countries."

BEIJING, Sept. 4 (Xinhua) -- Namibia and China have maintained a cordial diplomatic relationship that "can only be expected to grow from strength to strength," Peter Katjavivi, speaker of Namibia's National Assembly, told Xinhua in a recent interview.

"Today we have an exceptional, good, cordial relationship. We partner in many respects. We fully understand each other," said Katjavivi, noting that the relationship goes back to the time before Namibia's independence.

Strengthening the bilateral relationship "is our wish and our determination," he said. "I am absolutely confident that this is what we want to see happening between our two countries."

As for the 2024 Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, he said it would strengthen the existing cooperation between China and Africa and would be "a great opportunity to benefit from each other."

During the interview, Katjavivi, in his 80s, proudly shared with Xinhua one of his precious memories of China.

On Oct. 25, 1971, the 26th session of the United Nations (UN) General Assembly adopted, with an overwhelming majority, Resolution 2758, which restored all rights of the People's Republic of China and recognized the government of the People's Republic of China as the sole legitimate representative of China in the United Nations.

When China finally restored its lawful seat at the United Nations, "I was there at the UN General Assembly on that day," he said, adding that he remembered the international solitary that prevailed to ensure China was given its rightful place within the world body.

Katjavivi recalled that as the debate started, many countries from Africa and Asia spoke up in support of China.

"It was a dramatic moment in history," he said, adding that many of these countries, what are called the Global South today, supported the restoration of China's lawful seat at the United Nations.

"It is something that I will always remember," he said, adding that when the Global South is united, "it helps to shape major decisions that affect so many people."

In August, Katjavivi took part in the 2024 interregional seminar on the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for parliaments of developing countries, co-hosted by China's National People's Congress and the Inter-Parliamentary Union, taking trips to Beijing, Shanxi Province and Tianjin.

"When I was here in the 1960s in the national capital, it did not look like this. What I saw around that time had been totally transformed. It's in a remarkable way, in such a short period of time ... this is unique," he said, adding that it is "the determination and hard work of the Chinese people that brought that about."

Katjavivi expected the two countries to strengthen research cooperation and personnel exchanges in agricultural modernization and vocational training.

This photo taken with a cellphone on Aug. 24, 2024 shows parliamentarians from developing nations visiting the Jinzhong National Agriculture High-tech Zone Smart Farm Demonstration Base in Jinzhong, north China's Shanxi Province. (Xinhua/Du Juan)

At the Jinzhong National Agriculture High-tech Zone Smart Farm Demonstration Base in Shanxi Province, he tried to establish cooperation between the Namibian and Chinese agricultural research institutions.

After visiting the Tianjin Public Vocational Training Center of China, he wrote a report, suggesting the establishment of a faculty or a department at the Namibian University of Science and Technology to train vocational instructors, hoping to apply China's experience to Namibia.

Before heading back to Namibia, Katjavivi told Xinhua that during this particular visit to cities in China, he observed and was briefed on various activities that form part of the transformation process that "brought the development in China to such a high level."

"There is a great deal of lessons to be learned from the Chinese experience. I'm going back to Namibia ... with wonderful ideas that I would like to take up with my colleagues at the government, university and parliament levels, to see how we can implement some of these wonderful ideas," he said.