25/08/2023
STATEMENT BY
H.E. DR. HAGE G. GEINGOB, PRESIDENT OF THE
REPUBLIC OF NAMIBIA
ON THE OCASSION OF THE XV BRICS SUMMIT
CHINA-AFRICA LEADERS DIALOGUE
AUGUST 24, 2023
JOHANNESBURG
SANDTON CONVENTION CENTRE
Your Excellency, Cyril Matamela Ramaphosa, President
of the Republic of South Africa, host of the 15th BRICS
Summit and co-convener of the China-Africa Leaders
Dialogue
Your Excellency, XI Jinping, President of the People’s
Republic of China, and co-convener of the China-Africa
Leaders Dialogue
Your Excellencies, Heads of State and Government; and
Ladies and Gentlemen
I wish to express my profound appreciation to President
Xi and President Ramaphosa for convening this
important China-Africa Leaders Dialogue. There is an
African proverb that says: “A little rain each day, will fill
the rivers to overflow.” Our presence here today is an
expression of the strength of relations between Africa
and China, which like a little rain each day have
continued to fill the rivers of shared development for the
benefit of our nations. Since the advent of the Forum on
China-Africa Cooperation in 2000 and the pioneering
Belt and Road Initiative in 2013, we have been able to
hold hands in our collective endeavour to fight poverty;
we have been able to expand infrastructure connecting
regions, to increase commerce and trade, and to allow
our people to develop their talents in the interest of
national development. All these efforts reflect our
collective will and desire to achieve shared prosperity
and a harmonious global society in a multipolar world,
where we all live in peace with each other.
Your Excellencies, Conveners of this Dialogue,
With our Dialogue this evening, convening under the
theme, “Promoting African integration and jointly
building a high-level Africa-China community with a
shared future,
” we have yet another opportunity to
reinforce the lessons we have learned from the past as
nations that have been subjected to colonialism. As a
country that triumphed over colonialism and
imperialism, Namibia is pleased with the giant steps we
have made in the areas of political and economic
cooperation under the China-Namibia Comprehensive
Cooperation Strategic Partnership. However, in the
pursuit of Africa’s industrialisation and prosperity, there
is scope for more work to be done in new areas of
cooperation such as green hydrogen, oil and gas. At a
time when our continental body, the African Union has
themed this year as “The Year of the AfCFTA:
Acceleration of the African Continental Free Trade Area
Implementation”, Namibia is at an advanced stage in the
development of its green hydrogen industry and the
supply of critical raw minerals, including lithium, which
is needed for the green energy transition as part of our
fight against climate change. We invite you to come,
invest and assist us in the development of the green
energy infrastructure to consolidate regional energy
value chains and off-take agreements. We are open for
business.
Your Excellencies, Conveners of this Dialogue,
Africa and humanity at large are going through a
tumultuous period of global conflicts, which have the
potential to dim the light of peace and development that
has been ignited through our Agenda 2063: The Africa
We Want. To this end, Namibia endorses China’s Global
Security Initiative, which calls for a commitment to a
new vision of common, comprehensive, cooperative and
sustainable universal security. Namibia is a child of
international solidarity and believes in One Africa, One
World and One Global Village. Therefore, this ChinaAfrica Dialogue reaffirms the saying that, “True friends,
no matter how far they are, are able to fill your spirit”.
As true friends, we join the Global Civilization Initiative
put forward by President Xi, encouraging different
civilizations to flourish collectively when they break
down barriers to work together and by so doing renew
hope to achieve a shared prosperous and peaceful coexistence of all nations.
I thank You.
