Remarks by Ndiitah Nghipondoka-Robiati: Namibia and Botswana Strengthen Bilateral Cooperation at Bi-National Commission Meeting

Remarks by Ndiitah Nghipondoka-Robiati, executive director, Ministry of International Relations and Trade, Windhoek, 6-10 October 2025.

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Welcome to our beautiful city of Windhoek!

Let me start by extending to you, co-chair, our appreciation for accepting our invitation to the second session of the Namibia-Botswana Bi-National Commission.

Noting our enduring historical, socio-economic, cultural, and familial connections, we cherish any opportunity to gather physically, including for an auspicious meeting such as this. We deem it a testament to our shared commitment to deepening our cooperation under the Bi-National Commission framework, with the explicit intent of improving the lives of the peoples of the great nations of Namibia and Botswana.

It is common knowledge that Namibia and Botswana enjoy excellent relations. As we begin this session of the senior officials meeting in the second session of our Bi-National Commission, I am convinced that our deliberations will lead to the enhancement of bilateral cooperation between our two countries. 

The expected outcome of the senior officials meeting will be draft agreed minutes and a draft joint communique to be initialled by myself and my counterpart, ambassador Thuso Ramodimoosi, as the co-chairs. These documents will then be forwarded to the ministerial meeting, where they will be presented by the co-chairs of the senior officials’ meeting and considered by the ministers.

I am cognisant of the fact that much of the work and substance of our meeting lies in the committee discussions where our senior officials, together with our technical experts, will deliberate the agenda before us with a view to achieving mutually beneficial outcomes.

Throughout this process, I invite us all to hold dear the fact that our joint efforts to promote sustainable development for our respective peoples should be a priority as we move forward in our deliberations. Accordingly, let us utilise this opportunity to review, exchange and bring about substantive ideas which will further reinforce our cooperation.

In Namibia, our current preoccupations are focused on the following sectors: agriculture, sport, youth empowerment – including creating jobs specifically for this demographic – quality education and training, the creative industry, quality health and social welfare, as well as land, housing, and sanitation.

Another important priority for our government is increasing intra-Africa trade under the African Continental Free Trade Area mechanism and promoting infrastructure development and connectivity in the Southern African Development Community region.

Keeping these priorities and those of our guests in mind, the onus is on us as senior officials to ensure that our deliberations yield tangible results in order to bring about meaningful change in the lives of our citizens.

With regard to the modalities of our deliberations, I would like to refer you to our proposed programme. After the official opening, we shall break away into the following committees:

• Political, Diplomatic and Legal Committee
• Economic Committee
• Social Committee
• Defence and Security Committee
  

The committees are expected to report back to the plenary of senior officials on their deliberations. I urge all committees to come prepared with a report of the outcome of their deliberations in electronic form. This will facilitate the final draft agreed minutes of our proceedings, which will be presented to the ministers’ meeting on 9 October 2025.

In conclusion, I have no doubt that our combined efforts on the work ahead will enable us to execute our mandate, translating into quality and meaningful outcome documents supported by substantive recommendations for consideration and adoption by our ministers.

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