Africa-Press – Namibia. PRESIDENT Hage Geingob said that he is impressed and honoured that the First Lady of the United States of America (USA), Dr Jill Biden, chose to visit Namibia in February, emphasising that some people do not understand the importance of this visit.
“Some people don’t understand the importance of such a visit. Out of 55 (African) countries, you were chosen,” the president said.
Geingob said this during a courtesy visit with the Ambassador of USA to Namibia, Randy Berry. During this meeting, Berry also reiterated the importance of Biden’s recent “historic visit” to Namibia, adding that the visit gave the first lady a good sense of Namibia’s achievements, particularly in the healthcare sector.
“In the case of the first lady’s visit here for example, they had a real opportunity to see the success that Namibia has realised in the health sector, where this country now is leading the way in Africa and beyond in delivery of efficient health services to a very disparate population. We can learn from that and we have been partnering on that for 20 years,” he said.
Besides the achievements in the country’s health sector, Berry explained, Biden also got a good sense of Namibia’s democratic processes and the country’s “extreme potential in terms of renewable energy development”.
“These are all ways in which I think there is great promise that lies down the road for Namibia. So, it was really just an opportunity to talk about the current state of the relationship, which I think is very, very sound, and then talk about an aspirational sense of where the road can take us further down, but centred in democracy, economy and support for people,” Berry said.
He added that it is clear that Namibia is on the leading edge of a number of different innovations and he is therefore “very excited about Namibia’s role in the region and beyond the region”.
Going forward, Berry revealed, the USA intends to focus on improving and supporting Namibia’s democratic systems and institutions. He said that USA also intends to support Namibia’s economy in an inclusive way and to assist with the provision of service delivery in the country. These efforts, he explained, are based on Namibia’s strong relationship with the USA, which is built on a solid foundation and mutual values.
“The US is a democracy. Namibia is a democracy. I think that binds us together,” the ambassador added.
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