Story by George Sanzila
Windhoek – Japan Ambassador to Namibia, H.E. Hideaki Harada bid farewell to the Speaker of the National Assembly, Hon. Prof. Peter Katjavivi today (08/04/22). H.E.
Harada’s term of office as Ambassador in Namibia started in 2018.
Ambassador Harada noted during the farewell that Japan’s interest has always been to strengthen political, social and economic ties with Namibia. This has been achieved through assistance in the construction of class rooms and the provision of volunteer teacher experts in the fields of mathematics, physics and chemistry that have been dispatched to teach in all of Namibia’s 14 regions. Japan has further offered scholarships to many Namibians to study different fields in Japan.
The Diplomat also noted that Japan and Namibia continues to cooperate in other critical areas of the economy through the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). The agency has been a strategic partner of the Walvis Bay Corridor Group (WBCG) since 2013 and has provided technical expertise to the formulation of Namibia’s logistics masterplan.
He revealed that the government of Japan was renewing its commitment to ensuring an upsurge in vaccination by facilitating the installation of cold storage facilities for Covid 19 vaccines in partnership with UNICEF.
Hon. Katjavivi on his part noted that Namibia valued the outgoing Ambassador’s contribution to Namibia over the years. He noted that the friendship between the two countries had extended to parliament cooperation.
“A few years ago MPs from Japan visited Namibia. Our intention was to create parliament to parliament cooperation but those plans were affected by the pandemic. I think it’s time to make follow ups now that the pandemic has slowed down. We could engage each other and share experiences on pertinent issues”, said Hon. Katjavivi.
Hons. Hitoshi Kikawada and Ichiro Aisawa visited the Namibian parliament in 2018. The two Members of Parliament are part of the Japan – Africa Parliamentary Friendship Group, which Hon. Aisawa also chairs.
