The Namibian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (NCCI) will continue to engage business people in the USA with a view to forge stronger partnerships and see more Namibian products making entry into the US market.
This was said today by the NCCI’s CEO Ms Charity Mwiya when she addressed the Namibia – USA Business Forum in Windhoek.
“We acknowledge that Government alone cannot shoulder the burden of extending development to all. The private sector has a crucial role to play in stimulating economic growth and job creation. As the premier business support organization in Namibia, NCCI remains committed to advocating for conditions that will enable full participation of the business sector in the economy.
“For our American friends, I have no doubts that there are enormous opportunities for business partnerships which you can forge with us and for this reason alone, your visit is clearly worth a while,” Mwiya said.
“The commercial relations between Namibia and USA have existed for a long time, and today, the United States is among Namibia’s top ten trading partners. We in NCCI consider the USA as an important economic ally to Namibia and we believe that the commercial ties between the two nations must be strengthened in a manner which provides mutual benefits for our two countries and peoples.
“Namibia still provides excellent opportunities for USA businesses that want to invest and trade. The NCCI has committed itself to facilitating business partnerships between USA and Namibian businesses which can take advantage of these trade and investment opportunities. America is no doubt a great country and has set an exemplary pattern of a nation committed to the development of its people.”
Mwiya further stated that for USA to have grown its economy to the level it is today as the largest in the world, it is as a result of committed systematic planning, which include building industries in manufacturing, creating and extending an innovative skills base and creating jobs and empowering its own people.
“In Namibia, we have the same ambition. We would like to see ourselves creating a strong manufacturing and industrialised economy that will create jobs and enhance the living standards of our people, as well as provide goods and services that can compete well on the global market.
“Thus, we are looking forward to work with our USA counterparts on a relationship that will contribute to the industrial development of our economy; a relationship that will transfer innovative skills to our people; a relationship that will economically and socially empower and sustain the livelihood of our people; and a relationship that offers mutual benefits in the application of the necessary regulations of the business environment in which we all operate.”
The business chamber’s leader further said that Namibia is endowed with abundant natural resources and “we welcome investors like our USA counterparts that wish to build innovative industries to extract and enhance value addition to these resources.
“It is our ambition that such opportunities mutually benefit our people thereby creating backward and forward linkages. We are very confident that given your experience, you our USA counterparts will raise to the occasion and help us create an industrial based economy as well as contribute to the financial and capital markets of our warm and business friendly country.”
When addressing the key sectors of the Namibian economy, Mwiya stated, the NCCI plays a crucial role in supporting government efforts to identify key markets, to persuade the Global Market Access agenda and create meaningful outcomes.
“We are proud to have supported government’s efforts in negotiating for entry of our beef into the US market, and after 18 years of intensive negotiations, Namibia became the first African country to export beef to the USA market in 2020.
“We are proud to note that the Meat Corporation of Namibia (Meatco) was last year recognised as the Namibian exporter of the year to the United States (US).
“This was recognised at the 2021 Namibia Annual Exporter Awards, which were organised by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) in conjunction with the Namibian Manufacturers Association (NMA) and the Ministry of Industrialisation and Trade.
“Winning this award reveals Meatco has demonstrated its competitive edge to comply with the stringent US market requirements. The award is also an encouragement to our Namibian farmers/producers as well as the Namibian government that has enabled players like Meatco to have systems in place to meet the required US standards.
“And NCCI is proud of Meatco on this milestone. We will therefore continue to engage our business colleagues in the USA with a view to forge stronger partnerships and see more Namibian products making entry into the US market.”
In the photo: Business to business engagements took place today in Windhoek between Namibian and American entrepreneurs.
