Mudavadi jets out to Namibia for Mid-Term Review meeting

 

Prime Cabinet Secretary and Cabinet Secretary for Foreign and Diaspora Affairs Musalia Mudavadi.

Prime Cabinet Secretary and Foreign and Diaspora Affairs CS Musalia Mudavadi is set to travel to Namibia on Sunday for the Mid-Term Review meeting on bilateral issues in Windhoek.

The Prime CS will use the opportunity to champion Kenya and Namibia's Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) among other issues.

Mudavadi will also use the opportunity to drum up support for the candidature of former Prime Minister Raila Odinga, for the African Union Commission Chairperson position in the February 2025 elections.

The Diaspora Affairs CS will meet with Namibia Vice President, Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah, and Minister for International Relations and Cooperation, Peya Mushelenga.

Mudavvadi's Director of Press Service Jacob Ng’etich said in a statement on Sunday that the meeting will aid in strengthening relations between the two countries.

Kenya and Namibia have had bilateral ties since 1964.

Both countries are signatories to the Africa Continental Free Trade Area(ACFTA), which they have ratified for health and education.

They are also members of the COMESA-SADC-EAC Tripartite Free Trade Area which is meant to accelerate economic integration for the people of the Eastern and Southern African region.

On June 2, 1992, Kenya and Namibia signed a General Agreement on Cooperation that established the Kenya-Namibia Joint Commission of Cooperation (JCC) and established agreements on agriculture, aviation,

During the trip, Mudavadi will push for increased collaborations, including reviewing several business and diplomatic protocols and the Namibian establishment of a Diplomatic Mission in Nairobi.

Ng’etich said the Namibia trip will push for improving Kenya-Namibia trade ties.

For over a decade, the balance of trade has been in favour of Namibia to the tune of Sh11.16 million, where Kenya exports an average of Sh106.31 million worth of goods, while it imports goods worth Sh117.76 million from Namibia.

Kenya's exports to Namibia include medicament for reducing pain, syringes, electrical equipment, radar apparatus, automatic data machines, petroleum products, clothing, water and roses.

Namibia's exports to Kenya include table salts, unwrought zinc, alcoholic beverages, molluscs, ethanol and clothes.

Ngetich said the products with the greatest potential for export to Namibia include black tea and coffee.

He added that there is the potential to benchmark and cooperate in the fields of livestock keeping, blue economy, beef and water dam building, and water conservation.

"Although Namibia has a relatively small population, thus making it a small market for retailers, it is rated the 26th most important new market for retailers, and the second most important in Africa after Botswana, per the Global Retail Development Index 2013 by AT Kearney," Ng'etich said.

Mudavadi will also seek to have Kenyans take advantage of the robust diplomatic relations and visa-free protocols to invest in the cereal sector.

The Prime Cabinet Secretary will follow up with Namibia on its promise to give Kenyan business people five-year multiple-entry business visas.

This is following Kenyan investors’ concerns about the issuing of business visas to explore investment opportunities in Namibia.

Kenya and Namibia have signed agreements and memorandums of understanding (MoUs) on visa abolition, technical cooperation in health, the recruitment of health personnel, cooperation in aviation training, diplomatic training, and cooperation in the field of youth affairs.

The MoUs are on a Bilateral Air Services Agreement initiated in 1993 and reviewed and re-initiated in 1999, and on Ports Matters, both of which are ready for signing.

Others at different stages include an MoU on science, technology, and productive innovation between Namibia Airports Company and Kenya Airports Authority, a trade and investment agreement on reciprocal promotion and protection of investments and agriculture, livestock, water, forestry and fisheries.

During the trip to Windhoek, Mudavadi will explore cooperation with the Namibian government for the national carrier, Kenya Airways, to establish direct flights and to secure a fifth freedom landing by KQ for SADC member states.

He will also push Kenyans to leverage the experience and expertise of the Namibia marine sector, including the blue economy.

by PERPETUA ETYANG