Your Honorable Ms. Agnes Basilla Tjongarero, Minister of Sport, Youth and National Service,

Mr. Teofilus Nuugulu, Chairperson of the Namibia School Sport Union,

All the Senior Namibian Government Officials,

Members of the Namibian School Sport Union and its Football Team,

Mr. Jiang Chongyuan, Managing Director of Zhong Mei Engineering Group,

Representatives of the Chinese companies and the Chinese Community in Namibia，

Friends from the media,

Distinguished guests, Ladies and Gentlemen,

Good evening.

It’s my great pleasure and honor to host this reception for the Football Team of Namibian School Sport Union (NSSU) who will depart for China tomorrow to attend the International School Sport Federation Football World Cup 2024 in Dalian, a beautiful city in the north-eastern China.

I am particularly honored with the gracious presence of Minister Tjongarero at this event. Minister Tjongarero cares deeply the development of youth sport in Namibia. When I paid a courtesy call on the Honorable Minister last October, she stressed to me the importance of sport for the youth development and expressed her hope to further strengthen China-Namibia cooperation in this area.

I want to assure the Honorable Minister that, as our sponsorship for the China trip by the NSSU Football Team has indicated, the Embassy will provide more support for the development of Namibian youth sport and will work hard for promoting friendly exchanges and cooperation between our two countries in this area.

On this joyous occasion, I commend Mr. Nuugulu, Chairperson of the NSSU for coming to the Embassy several months ago and letting me know of their need for our support. Mr. Nuugulu’s words at the time were very convincing, which are still resounding in my ears even today.

I don’t know what impression he may have got from our conversation that day, but I can tell him that I was already determined to do my best to support him at the end of our meeting. I have been working hard on that as one of my priorities ever since then, and I am so happy that eventually we are able to secure the necessary funding.

One of our major sponsors is the Dalian Municipal Government of China. As the host of this important sports event, they agree to provide free accommodation and food for the whole football team of 23 people during their 12-day stay in Dalian. Let’s thank their generous support with a big applause.

I also want to thank Mr. Jiang Chongyuan, Managing Director of Zhong Mei Engineering Group for their contribution. When the Embassy approached him inquiring about the possibility of their donation for the international airfare of the Namibian delegation, he was so supportive even though it’s not something in their budget this year and he has made a lot of efforts in securing the funding. Thank you, Managing Director Jiang, your support is so important.

Now I will share a secret with our distinguished guests. Managing Director Jiang is not only a soccer fan, but also an excellent player himself. If possible, Mr. Nuugulu, may I suggest you recruit him as a back-up member of your wonderful team. And I also suggest that in future we hold a friendship match between the Football Team of Namibian School Sport Union and the Chinese community.

Distinguished guests, Ladies and Gentlemen, I see the China trip by the Football Team of NSSU as a milestone in the history of China-Namibia youth sport exchanges. I welcome and support more such exchanges in future. And I hope more friends and corporate entities will lend their support in this worthy cause.

As you have seen in the video shown at the beginning of the reception, Dalian is a beautiful city. If you ever visited there, you would find that people there are warm and friendly. I am sure the Football Team of the NSSU, or I should say our football team, will have a memorable time there. Here, I am happy to announce that the Embassy will donate 100,000 Namibian dollars to the NSSU for the extra costs which may occur during the team’s stay in China.

Ladies and Gentlemen, let’s wish our team a safe and pleasant trip to China and excellent performance in the International School Sport Federation Football World Cup 2024.

Thank you.