Tweya sets stage for China trade

NAMIBIA does not need the export markets of its traditional trading partners in the European Union (EU), as it has found a market which is more than two times bigger than the EU market, namely China.

This is according to Trade and Industry Deputy Minister Tjekero Tweya who launched a scathing attack on Namibia’s EU trading partners yesterday when he addressed a business forum which included delegates from Namibia and China.’Why is it our concern to cry about this so-called lucrative [EU] market who humiliated us, when there is a bigger market [China] which we have found and which treats us with dignity?’ Tweya asked.Asked after his speech whether this is the official position of Government, he said ‘I was not speaking in my personal capacity’.He said that Namibia has not effectively shut its doors on the Economic Partnership Agreements negotiations with the EU. ‘The negotiations are continuing but we cannot sit idle’ and wait for the Europeans. ‘We have to diversify our markets not to be caught with our pants down.’ He said that Namibia in its quest to diversify markets have not only signed an export agreement with China for its products, but also have a deal in place with the Democratic Republic of Congo for beef exports.The Sino-Namibia business initiative, known as the 2012 China Zhejiang – Namibia Business Forum, where Tweya was speaking is organised by the Namibia Chamber of Commerce and Industry (NCCI). The business forum aims to bring together business men and women form Namibia and one of China’s most economically developed provinces, Zhejiang.Delegates who attended the event included Tweya, Agriculture Ministry Permanent Secretary Andrew Ndishishi, Gong Zheng, the Vice Governor of the Zhejiang province and Chinese Ambassador to Namibia Wei Ruixing.Tweya said the manner in which the EU engaged the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) group was tantamount to trade terms and conditions being dictated to the southern African group.Tweya said that Namibia’s ‘so-called trading partners are in crisis, they [EU 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’.Tweya slammed the EU and sang the praises of China, adding that China has never prescribed who Namibia’s president should be in return for development funding, ‘but the others [EU countries] have the audacity to prescribe who our leaders should be’.Tweya said that following the conclusion of an agreement between Namibia and China in December, Namibia’s main export products, namely beef, fish and table grapes will now find their way to Chinese markets, adding that ‘this Government does not sit idle in the face of humiliation’.Tweya further praised China when he said that ‘on paper China is the second largest economy in the world, but in reality we know that they are not second’.Chinese business practices have been questioned by local entrepreneurs – big and small.They have been accused of using cheap imported Chinese labour at the expense jobless Namibians and also undercutting prices when tendering for Government jobs. Tweya also touched on thorny issue of Namibia’s classification by the United Nations (UN) as an upper-middle income country.’Namibia is unfairly treated by 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,’ Tweya said.According to Tweya, Namibia can only secure development financing at high repayment rates where there is a much higher risk of defaulting on loan repayments.Namibia has signed a number of concessional loans with China for big infrastructure developments in the country.