Namibia trade and industry deputy minister Tjekero Tweya has called on the country to strengthen trading partnerships with China in the wake of the European crisis, website Namibian.com.na reported.

He told delegates at the 2012 China Zhejiang – Namibia Business Forum that it was important for the country to diversify and foster alternative commercial partnerships.

"Our so-called trading partners are in crisis, they [E.U. countries] do not have any more money, and they are not happy that you [a Chinese business delegation] are here to make contact with Namibian business people," he was quoted as saying.

He said negotiations were continuing with the E.U.'s economic partnership agreements but it was important for Namibia to be pro-active.

Tweya said that Namibia had signed an agreement in December to export table grapes, beef and fish to China and also had a deal in place with the Democratic Republic of Congo for beef exports.

Agriculture minister Andrew Ndishishi, Gong Zheng, the Vice Governor of the Zhejiang province and the Chinese Ambassador to Namibia Wei Ruixing attended the event aimed at bringing business people together from the two countries.

Tweya criticised how the E.U. was conducting economic partnership agreements under the South African Development Community and accused the Union of dictating "who our president should be" in return for funding.

He also touched on the issue of Namibia’s classification by the United Nations (UN) as an upper-middle income country.

"Namibia is unfairly treated. I-don’t-know-what-to-call-them by labelling us as an upper-middle income country, their aim is to sabotage our efforts to acquire development finance," he said.

Namibia has signed a number of concessional loans with China for big infrastructure developments in the country.

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Photo: Namibia Ministry of Trade and Industry

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