Your Excellencies President Dr. Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah and First Gentleman Lieutenant General Ndaitwah,

Honorable Ministers and Senior Officials of the Namibian Government Present,

President Chen Xiaofeng of Guangdong Committee of China Council for the Promotion of International Trade,

Distinguished business leaders from China and Namibia,

Dear Friends, Ladies and gentlemen,

Good evening!

On the occasion of Her Excellency President Ndaitwah's state visit to China, this Namibia-China Business Roundtable hosted by the Namibian Embassy in China holds special significance. I am delighted and honored to join you this evening, and I wish to extend my warmest congratulations on the successful organization of this event.

President Ndaitwah is leading a delegation to China that includes seven cabinet Ministers, one regional governor, numerous other senior Namibian government officials, and 200 representatives of the Namibian business community, which has fully demonstrated the high importance Her Excellency the President and the Namibian government have placed on promoting China-Namibia friendship and practical cooperation. This is certainly a historic visit which will elevate the bilateral relations to a new level and constantly push forward bilateral cooperation to even greater heights.

The theme of tonight’s event is China-Namibia economic and trade cooperation. As China’s Ambassador to Namibia, my key message for you is that China-Namibia economic and trade cooperation is not only established on a solid foundation, but also enjoys enormous potential and broad prospects for development.

When I say the foundation is solid, I have concrete data to support that. China has long been Namibia’s second-largest trading partner, and the bilateral trade reached $1.853 billion last year, a 35.7% increase over the previous year. China remains as Namibia’s largest source of foreign investment for a long period of time, with an investment stock of $2.7 billion by the end of 2025. There are currently more than 50 medium and large Chinese enterprises investing and operating in Namibia.

When I mentioned the “enormous potential and broad prospects for development” of our bilateral economic and trade cooperation, I also based myself on the facts. As a major resource-rich country in Africa and indeed globally, Namibia is endowed with abundant mineral and oil resources beneath its vast territory of more than 820,000-square-kilometer and the expansive waters along its over 1,600-kilometer-long coastline. And actually, Namibia’s natural resources not only lie under the land and sea, but also shower down from the sky, as it enjoys superb conditions for developing wind and solar energy which very few countries in the world can match.

The mining sector is no doubt a key area for our bilateral economic cooperation, but it certainly doesn’t represent the whole picture, since bilateral cooperation in other areas like infrastructure, telecommunication and agriculture has also made remarkable achievements.

Talking about “enormous potential and broad prospects for development” of our bilateral economic and trade cooperation, I should also mention the three “dividends” as follows.

First, it’s the dividends yielded by the policies of the Namibian government. Under the visionary leadership of President Ndaitwah, the Namibian government has designated seven major priorities for national development, and pressed ahead with every effort for realizing industrialization and agricultural modernization. This has and will continue to create new major opportunities for China-Namibia cooperation across a wide range of sectors. President Ndaitwah’s visit to China this time also tells us again that the Namibian government and people welcome Chinese enterprises to invest more in Namibia. Inspired by this important visit, China-Namibia economic and trade cooperation will enter into a new era of development. Here, I wish to encourage my fellow Chinese entrepreneurs to answer the call of President Ndaitwah and the Namibian government to invest more in the value addition and local beneficiation of the Namibian resources. This is also the call of the Namibian people. I believe this is in essence a new opportunity for my fellow Chinese entrepreneurs who could look at it from a long-term strategic perspective.

Second, it’s the dividends yielded by the Chinese government’s Africa policy. Back in September 2024 at the Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC), His Excellency President Xi Jinping announced that China will implement 10 partnership action plans with Africa to advance modernization. In his congratulatory message to the African Union Summit in February this year, President Xi further announced the full implementation of zero tariffs for the 53 African countries having diplomatic relations with China, which has officially taken effect on May 1. This series of major policy measures by China has injected strong momentum into the development of China-Africa relations, and the zero-tariff initiative, in particular, will provide an unprecedentedly powerful boost for promoting China-Africa economic and trade cooperation, which will for sure have a far-reaching significance on expanding Africa’s exports to China as well as accelerating Africa’s economic transformation. Enterprises on both sides will benefit from that.

Third, it’s the dividends yielded by Chinese modernization. This year marks the beginning of China’s 15th Five-Year Plan, and we are now advancing Chinese modernization in all aspects through high-quality development. As the world’s largest developing country, the world’s second-largest economy, and the world’s biggest manufacturing nation, China will continue to uphold the principles of openness, mutual benefit, universality, and inclusiveness, and through a higher level of opening-up, bring more development opportunities for African countries, including Namibia. I believe our Namibian friends will strengthen their belief in this regard through their own experience in China this time.

Inspired by President Ndaitwah’s visit, China-Namibia relations will open up a new chapter in their development which will bring even greater benefits to our two peoples. In conclusion, I thank Her Excellency the President again for visiting China, and I wish the visit a complete success and all the members of the delegation a great time in China.

Thank you all again for giving me the opportunity to speak on this important occasion. Thank you.