{"id":99744,"date":"2026-02-21T17:51:39","date_gmt":"2026-02-21T17:51:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/namibia-congo-move-beyond-trade-rhetoric"},"modified":"2026-02-21T18:46:42","modified_gmt":"2026-02-21T18:46:42","slug":"namibia-congo-move-beyond-trade-rhetoric","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/namibia-congo-move-beyond-trade-rhetoric","title":{"rendered":"Namibia, Congo move beyond trade rhetoric"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #ff6600\"><strong>Africa-Press &#8211; Namibia. <\/strong><\/span>Despite strong historical and political ties between Namibia and the Republic of Congo, trade and investment between the two countries remain disappointingly low.<\/p>\n<p>This is the postulation of trade and international relations executive director Ndiitah Nghipondoka-Robiati yesterday.<\/p>\n<p>Speaking at the 5th Session of the Namibia\u2013Congo Joint Permanent Commission of Cooperation in Windhoek, Nghipondoka-Robiati said it was time for both countries to move beyond friendship and translate agreements into real economic benefits.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe bilateral relationship between our two countries is excellent, but trade and investment remain worrying. It is essential for our two countries to share experiences in vital sectors and ensure that our cooperation yields tangible results,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>Namibia and Congo share a long history of solidarity, dating back to Namibia\u2019s liberation struggle.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt is because of that foundation that was laid that today we can sit across this table and have a common agenda of discussion as we further strengthen our bilateral cooperation,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>The senior officials\u2019 meeting is reviewing progress made since the previous session and assessing implementation of agreements in key sectors such as mining, education, tourism, trade and investment. However, several agreements remain pending.<\/p>\n<p>Nghipondoka-Robiati urged technical officials from both countries to speed up the process.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI wish to urge our technical officials to expeditiously work towards full implementation of the agreements and memoranda of understanding signed between our two countries. They must accelerate the finalisation of all agreements that are still pending,\u201d she said. These include agreements in health, tourism, fisheries and marine resources, education, culture and arts, telecommunications and information and communication technology.<\/p>\n<p>She stressed that cooperation must directly improve the lives of citizens. \u201cThe onus is on us as technocrats to make sure that our deliberations yield tangible results in order to bring about meaningful change in the lives of our citizens,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>Her Congolese counterpart, executive director in Congo\u2019s Ministry of International Cooperation and Promotion of Public-Private Partnership, Ambassador Simeon Ewongo, acknowledged that while progress has been made, more needs to be done.<\/p>\n<p>He highlighted achievements in training and skills development, including the creation of a technical and professional institute and training programmes for Congolese students abroad.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cImportant advances have been recorded in several sectors, especially in training and capacity building,\u201d Ewongo said.<\/p>\n<p>However, he admitted that many initiatives discussed since the last session in 2015 have not yet been fully implemented.<\/p>\n<p>The meeting comes at a time when African countries are pushing to increase intra-African trade under the African Continental Free Trade Area and the African Union\u2019s Agenda 2063.<\/p>\n<p>Nghipondoka-Robiati said stronger Namibia\u2013Congo cooperation would contribute to \u201cthe Africa we want\u201d, but only if commitments are honoured.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAs we begin this session, our joint efforts to promote sustainable development of our respective countries should be a priority,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p><strong>For More News And Analysis About <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Namibia<\/span> Follow <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Africa-Press<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Africa-Press &#8211; Namibia. Despite strong historical and political ties between Namibia and the Republic of Congo, trade and investment between the two countries remain disappointingly low. This is the postulation of trade and international relations executive director Ndiitah Nghipondoka-Robiati yesterday. Speaking at the 5th Session of the Namibia\u2013Congo Joint Permanent Commission of Cooperation in Windhoek, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":99743,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,12],"tags":[233],"class_list":["post-99744","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-policy","tag-namibia"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.1 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Namibia, Congo move beyond trade rhetoric - Namibia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Despite strong historical and political ties between Namibia and the Republic of Congo, trade and investment between the ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/namibia-congo-move-beyond-trade-rhetoric\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Namibia, Congo move beyond trade rhetoric\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Despite strong historical and political ties between Namibia and the Republic of Congo, trade and investment between the ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/namibia-congo-move-beyond-trade-rhetoric\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Namibia\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-02-21T17:51:39+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-02-21T18:46:42+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nambia\/sites\/29\/2026\/02\/sm_1771686793.160666.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"480\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/namibia-congo-move-beyond-trade-rhetoric#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/namibia-congo-move-beyond-trade-rhetoric\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Namibia, Congo move beyond trade rhetoric\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-02-21T17:51:39+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-02-21T18:46:42+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/namibia-congo-move-beyond-trade-rhetoric\"},\"wordCount\":482,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/namibia-congo-move-beyond-trade-rhetoric#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nambia\/sites\/29\/2026\/02\/sm_1771686793.160666.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"namibia\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/namibia-congo-move-beyond-trade-rhetoric#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/namibia-congo-move-beyond-trade-rhetoric\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/namibia-congo-move-beyond-trade-rhetoric\",\"name\":\"Namibia, Congo move beyond trade rhetoric - 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