Namibia supports India's permanent seat at UN

New Delhi, Oct 26 (UNI) Namibia today re-affirmed strong support for India's candidature for Permanent membership of the U N Security Council while both countries stressed the urgent need for reforms of the world body.

Namibia also sought close consultations with India in the context of ongoing cooperation in multilateral fora.

Namibian Foreign Minister Marco Hausiku, who arrived here earlir in the day on a three-day official visit, met External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee and held discussions on a broad agenda of bilateral cooperation in areas like education, agriculture, trade, mines and energy, technical training and Defence.

This was the first meeting that Mr Mukherjee held with a foreign dignitary since he assumed charge as the External Affairs Minister yesterday.

An official spokesman said the agenda of the meeting would facilitate Namibia's development priorities and provide new content to bilateral relations suited to the ideals of South-South cooperation.

The External Affairs Minister also offered training for Namibian diplomats on WTO issues, trade and development, diplomacy and international relations.

It was mentioned that Indian Mission in Geneva had already requested for applications for training on WTO issues.

During the discussions, ongoing negotiations for finalising bilateral Memoranda of Understanding (MOUs) in agriculture, cooperation in energy, mineral resources, education, cultural exchange programme, IT kiosks' project and the Pan African e-Network were reviewed.

Besides, discussions regarding the fixing of the date for the second Joint Trade Committee meeting and cooperation in the field of Defence are taking place between the two sides.

Mr Mukherjee underlined the importance of cooperation with Namibia in the context of the launch of the India-SADC Forum in Windhoek in April. The areas identified for cooperation include HRD, agricultural and water resources management, small and medium enterprises, drugs and pharmaceuticals, ICT, trade, industry and finance which have considerable significance for Namibia as well.

Namibia is well placed to host the SADC Projects given its excellent infrastructure and a pool of skilled people.

The External Affairs Minister pointed out that India would shortly initiate negotiations with the Southern African Customs Union (SACU), of which Namibia is also a member.

This would give a fillip to bilateral trade. Currently main Namibian imports from India are drugs and pharmaceuticals and its major exports to India are non-ferrous metals.

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