Namibia’s relations with India are based on nostalgia and high appreciation for the diplomatic, moral and material support extended by India during the country’s struggle for independence and for the assistance rendered after independence, in its nation-building efforts. President Nujoma, in particular, leads his countrymen in keeping alive these bonds of friendship and warmth towards India. Political interaction has continued at a steady pace, through exchange of high-level visits of dignitaries as well as interaction in various international fora, including the UN, NAM and Commonwealth. President Nujoma, visited India in February 2003, during which an important Memorandum of Understanding was signed providing for co-operation in various sectors like the establishment of a civil services institute in Namibia, assistance to Namibia in evolving a strategic plan for e-governance, setting up of an agro processing unit and setting up of SME clusters. 

The Government of India has adopted the ‘Focus Africa’ policy to transform a warm political relationship into one wherein, trade and economic cooperation acquires a higher salience. The formation of NEPAD, to which Prime Minister has announced a soft credit of US $ 200 million, has given rise to new opportunities for greater interaction and for enhancing trade and economic cooperation. Namibia, which occupies a strategic position in the sub-Saharan Africa, enjoys political stability, has excellent infrastructure, a modern and valuable port at Walvis Bay and has in place a set of government policies for encouraging trade and investment. The end of the Angolan civil war, the opening of market in southern Angola, accessible only from Namibia, adds a promising additional prospect. Namibia’s infrastructure provides access to Central African and SACU member countries. 

Technical Cooperation

Namibia is a partner country under the Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation (ITEC) programme and has received substantial assistance for its HRD and vocational training programmes. Since independence in 1990 till 2000 only around 100 Namibian nominees visited India under ITEC and various GOI scholarship programmes. However, beginning 2001-02, there has been a greater appreciation of the programmes and the Government of Namibia has evinced a keen interest in utilising the slots for scholarship. In fact, during the year 2001-2002, 57 Namibian nationals, including one Mayor and senior officials from the Office of the President, Prime Minister etc., were trained in India under ITEC/SCAAP scholarships. During 2002-03, the scholarship figure reached 37. During 2003-04 all the 30 slots allotted were utilised much before time. India’s assistance, in the ITEC/SCAAP, is much appreciated at the highest levels of the Government of Namibia. The India-Namibia Plastic Technology Demonstration Centre (INPTC) also set up under ITEC, aims at popularising Indian plastic technology and equipment among the emerging entrepreneurial class of Namibia. 

Under the ITEC Study visits programme, Mr. Patrick Nandago, Namibian Chief of Protocol, visited India from 3-14 January 1999 to study the functioning of the Protocol Division of the Ministry of External Affairs. The Secretary to the Cabinet, Mr.Frans Kapofi, led a three-member delegation to India from 10 to 14^th December 2002, mainly with the objective of studying the Cabinet system in India, the functioning of the civil service, the Public Service Management System and e-governance. Also under the ITEC programme, Dr.K.K.Talwar, Professor of Cardiology, AIIMS, visited Windhoek from 25-29 September 2001, in order to make an assessment regarding the setting up of the first Cardiac Unit in Windhoek. During January 2004, a four member delegation led by the Acting Vice Chancellor of the University of Namibia visited India for 2 weeks to have discussions with various institutes of higher learning in order to consider institutional linkage with the University of Namibia. A senior Deputy Director from the Lal Bahadhur Shastri Institute of National Administration, Mussoori is expected to visit Namibia shortly in order to provide expert advice to the Namibian government regarding the proposal to set up a civil services institute in Namibia.

Trade

Namibia still depends heavily on South Africa for its external trade, particularly more so for its imports. The main imports are from the members of the Southern African Customs Union (SACU). The share of South Africa in Namibia’s total imports, according to the latest available statistics, is 86.22 percent. Many products from different countries, including India are in the Namibian market. However, because these items are being re-imported mostly from South Africa, (in some cases via other SACU countries), they are not indicated as imports from the ‘country of origin’ but as imports from South Africa. Another example is the import of diamonds, mined by De Beers, and sold through the London and Antwerp exchanges. Though Namibia is a large country with a surface area of 825,418 square kilometres [about ¼ the size of India], yet it has a population of only 1.8 million. The small size of the local market and the stranglehold which South African companies exert over it, have so far inhibited Indian companies from trading with Namibia. 

According to the Foreign Trade Statistics of India, published by the Directorate of Commercial Intelligence & Statistics, the following are the trade figures relating to Namibia:
 

Year	Imports from Namibia to India	Exports from India to Namibia
1997-98	Rs. 20.57 lakhs	Rs. 616.06 lakhs
1998-99	Rs. 3.62 lakhs	Rs. 5772.39 lakhs
1999-00	Rs. 97.43 lakhs	Rs. 1703.88 lakhs
2000-01	Rs. 196.84 lakhs	Rs. 1237.37 lakhs
2001-02	Rs. 89.18 lakhs	Rs. 4712.74 lakhs
2002-03	Rs 1582.80 lakhs	Rs. 2404.00 lakhs

The principal commodities of export from India to Namibia are drugs and pharmaceuticals, inorganic/organic/agro chemicals, glass/glassware, manufactures of metals, machinery & instruments, transport equipment, rubber manufactured products, electronic goods and miscellaneous processed items. The principal commodities of import from Namibia to India are raw wool, fertilizers manufactured and metalliferous ores and metal scrap. 

However, according to statistics published by the Central Bureau of Statistics, National Planning Commission, Government of Namibia, the following are the export/import figures:

Exports from India to Namibia:
 

1999	2000	2001 (Tentative)	2002 (Tentative)
N$ 14.09 million (Rs. 93.31 million)	N$ 19.80 million (Rs. 131.13 million)	N$ 27.78 million (Rs. 183.97 million)	N$ 38.29 million (Rs. 253.58 million)

Exports from Namibia to India: 
 

1999	2000	2001 (Tentative)	2002 (Tentative)
N$ 1.14 million (Rs. 7.55 million)	N$ 0.99 million (Rs. 6.56 million)	N$ 0.1 million (Rs. 0.66 million)	N$ 0.08 million (Rs. 0.53 million)

The main commodities of exports from India to Namibia according to Namibian statistics are Inorganic Chemicals; compounds of precious metals etc, organic chemicals, pharmaceutical products, plastics and articles thereof, rubber and articles thereof, articles of leather; saddlery & harness; travel goods etc, printed books, newspapers, pictures etc, articles of apparel, made up textile articles, articles of iron and steel, electrical machinery, vehicle parts, etc. The items of export from Namibia to India, according to Namibian statistics, are used household effects; used personal effects and works of art, collector’s pieces and antiques. 

The Namibian Minister of Trade and Industry, accompanied by a 15-member strong delegation visited India at the invitation of CII, for the India Engineering Trade Fair in February 1999, and to attend the first meeting of the Indo-Namibian Joint Trade Committee (JTC), headed by the respective Ministers of Trade and Industry, held in New Delhi on February 15-16, 1999. The meeting reviewed the implementation of the provisions of the Trade Agreement and agreed to cooperate in the fields of electronics and software, small scale industries, agriculture, commercial farming, water resources, railways, energy sector, drugs and pharmaceutical sector, telecommunications, gem stones. The two sides also agreed to increase and diversify bilateral trade. Namibian side has indicated its preference for the 2^nd JTC in April 2004.

An agreement between the EXIM Bank of India and the Offshore Development Company (ODC) of Namibia on the US$ 5 million credit line has also been concluded, as a follow up of announcement made during the visit of Prime Minister Shri Vajpayee to Namibia in 1998. However, the utilisation of the Line of Credit has been rather slow, with only US $ 0.5 million out of the US $ 5 million available under the Line of Credit having been used so far, for importation from India of what is stated to be a state-of-the-art printing press in the SADC region, by M/s Democratic Media Holdings Ltd., which is printing the major newspapers of the country. Every year the utilisation period of the Line of Credit is being extended. During the last such extension granted by the Exim Bank towards the end of 2003, the terms of credit have further been liberalised. The Rupee interest rate has been reduced by 1 percentage point to 11% per annum for a credit period of up to 3 years and 11.5% for a credit period of 3 to 5 years. Efforts are continuing to speed up the process of utilising the Line of Credit. 

Source : Indian High Commission, Namibia