Prime Minister (PM) Saara Kuugongelwa-Amadhila on Monday said Namibia needs to ensure value for its natural resources as it is a large producer of top-quality diamonds on the global market.

The PM made the remarks during her visit to the Namib Desert Diamonds (Namdia) headquarters in Windhoek.

She said as a country that is a large producer of top-quality diamonds, Namibia should develop the capacity to mine, process and produce various products.

“We should be able to import diamonds and process them here. There are countries that do not produce diamonds but are wealthy because they buy diamonds from us in rough form, process them and create jobs and income for their countries and sell them back to our citizens,” the prime minister said.

Kuugongelwa-Amadhila further stated that Namibians should benefit from resources in the country, saying it is good to note that Namibia is committed to ensuring price discovery, in terms of the selling of rough diamonds, where all Namibians outside the sector can also benefit from the end products.

This, she said, will help with value addition to improve the resilient Namibian economy,

The PM was accompanied on her visit by Minister of Mines and Energy, Tom Alweendo.

Source: The Namibian Press Agency