From New Era

Namibia has already purchased land and submitted technical plans to establish a massive nine-storey trade hub in Talatona, Luanda, that will constitute an investment of between N$250 million and N$300 million.

This deal was sealed by Minister of Trade and Industry, Calle Schlettwein, during an official visit to Luanda last week to strengthen bilateral relations and cooperation on trade, investment and industrial development with Angola.

During the visit Schlettwein and his delegation also attended to assignments of the Joint Permanent Commission for Cooperation between the two countries.

Schlettwein, who returned from the visit that took place from 1 September to 4 September, said Namibia has long planned to develop trade centres in Angola, specifically in Luanda and Lubango, to facilitate the distribution of Namibian products and to encourage Namibian service providers to establish a foothold in the Angolan market.

“In this trade hub we want to set up Namibian service providers and Namibian retail outlets. Through this centre Namibian business people can make contact with Angolan business people and vice versa. And the Angolans want to do the same in Windhoek,” said Schlettwein on Friday during a media briefing on his recent visit.

While in Luanda the Namibian trade minister met with Angola’s Minister of Industry, Bernada Martins, and that country’s Minister of Commerce, Rosa De Matos. During the last meeting of the Joint Permanent Commission for Cooperation, the ministers of trade of the two countries were tasked to finalize the terms of reference of the Joint Trade Committee (JTC) for it to start functioning.

Schlettwein explained that the JTC is provided for under Article 10 of the bilateral Trade and Economic Cooperation Agreement and said “it is important for us to firm up on the practical actions necessary to expedite the implementation of the agreement.”

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