Former President Hifikepunye Pohamba has expressed the importance of modern transportation infrastructure to the economy and the social fabric of Namibia.
He noted that this kind of infrastructure is big on generating economic growth, alleviating poverty, the backbone of modern tourism and increasing regional and international competitiveness.
Pohamba who was speaking at Swakopmund yesterday at the naming of the Swakopmund-Walvis Bay MR44 road to Dr Hifikepunye Pohamba Freeway, expressed that the road is an important gateway to the world, serving the people of southern Africa, including Namibia, the rest of Africa as well as the rest of the world.
“The Namibian Government recognises that transportation is one of the best investments it can make in order to expand opportunity and prosperity to our people. I am therefore very pleased that my name is associated with this important road,” the former president noted.
The about 25 kilometre long freeway was constructed to reduce traffic congestion and save lives on the 35 kilometre B2 road between Walvis Bay and Swakopmund.
(NAMPA)
IB/PS
2 (JOHANNESBURG, 15 OCT, AFP) – African governments today urged creditors to speed up debt relief, saying delays were limiting growth on a continent facing an array of challenges, from high inflation to food insecurity.
Speaking at an online International Monetary Fund (IMF) press conference, Zambian Finance Minister Situmbeko Musokotwane said debt relief was a ‘vital aspect’ of bringing the world economy ‘back to normal’.
‘Our ability to participate in the global economy is constrained,’ Musokotwane said.
‘All we can do is to urge our partners, the creditors, to see this as a matter of urgency. That’s what we’re pleading for – speed, speed, speed is what we need.’
In 2020, as the COVID-19 pandemic battered Africa, Zambia became the first country on the continent to default on its foreign debt, estimated at $17.3 billion.
The G20 has agreed on a ‘common framework’ for debt restructuring for the poorest countries but implementation has been slow.
AFP
3 (ADDIS ABABA, 15 OCT, AFP) – The International Rescue Committee said today that one of its employees was killed and another injured in an attack in Ethiopia’s war-torn Tigray region.
Two other civilians were reportedly also killed and three injured as a result of the incident, IRC said.
The employee was ‘delivering life-saving humanitarian aid to women and children’ – aid workers and civilians should never be a target, said the IRC, which helps people affected by humanitarian crises.
Shire, in northwest Tigray, has been bombarded by Ethiopian and Eritrean forces for several days in a joint offensive against rebels from the region, diplomatic and humanitarian sources say.
AFP
4 (AMASRA, 15 OCT, AFP) – Rescuers today found the body of the last missing miner at a coal mine in northern Turkey, bringing the death toll to 41 from a methane blast the previous day.
The blast ripped through the mine near the small coal mining town of Amasra on Turkey’s Black Sea coast shortly before sunset yesterday.
Shortly after his arrival at the site this afternoon, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced that the last missing person had been found dead.
‘Our priority was to find the miners in the gallery. We finally reached the last one. He also died, bringing the number of deaths to 41,’ he said, ending rescue operations more than 20 hours after the deadly explosion.
Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu earlier said 58 miners had survived the blast, ‘either by themselves or thanks to rescuers’.
He said 28 people had been injured as a result of the blast.
Source: The Namibian Press Agency
