Namibia, China's Jiangsu Province sign work plan to boost bilateral cooperation

WINDHOEK, April 22 (Xinhua) -- Namibia's Khomas Regional Council and officials from east China's Jiangsu Province on Monday signed a five-year work plan aimed at deepening their twinning partnership and addressing mutual development challenges.

In her official statement delivered during the signing ceremony held in Windhoek, the capital of Namibia, Khomas Governor Laura McLeod-Katjirua expressed gratitude for the historical foundations laid by previous agreements, including the cooperation agreement signed in June 2015 and the subsequent agreement signed with the Standing Committee of the People's Congress of Jiangsu Province in October 2023.

McLeod-Katjirua highlighted the significance of the work plan's focus areas, which include sectoral partnership programs, scholarship and bursary programs, student and youth exchange initiatives, policymaker and staff exchange programs, trade and investment promotion, and community empowerment projects.

Speaking at the same event, Ma Xin, executive vice governor of Jiangsu Province, said his province is ready to work hand in hand with the Khomas region to elevate the mutually beneficial relationship between the two provinces to new heights.

"I hope that we can further intensify our high-level exchanges. We hope that we can discuss new chapters in the cooperation of the new era and head the continuous elevation of our friendly relations between our two provinces through high-level visits," Ma said.

He said he hopes both sides can take the opportunity of the 35th anniversary of China-Namibia diplomatic relations and the 10th anniversary of the formal establishment of the sister province relations next year to further enrich the content of the two countries' cooperation mechanism.

"We aim to regulate, discuss, and plan cooperation priorities advancing relevant cooperative matters in a coordinated fashion and create a new pattern of city-to-province interactions and department of collaborations in sister city interactions," he said.

Ma said he hopes to promote pragmatic cooperation in various fields under the Belt and Road initiative, noting that with the comprehensive partnership between China and Namibia, Khomas Regional Council has carried out a series of pragmatic cooperation in fields such as the economy, trade, education, and health, with mutual benefit becoming a distinct feature of their friendly interactions.