Outgoing South African High Commissioner to Namibia, Archie Whitehead bade farewell to President Hage Geingob at State House on Wednesday.

While bidding farewell, Whitehead described the relationship between the two countries as tied by an ‘umbilical cord’, saying Namibia’s development is South Africa’s and vice versa.

Whitehead said the most important future aspects for both countries is to further expand the economic relationship, especially with the recent much anticipated green hydrogen project that Namibia has embarked on.

“It is more important to invest in the future and South Africans are very much interested in the green hydrogen project, which will create jobs for Namibians and opportunities for South Africans as well, hence we must look into the development within the region,” he noted.

At the same occasion, Geingob thanked Whitehead for his tenure in Namibia, saying in terms of existing trade barriers, of which most are “human barriers” between the two countries, these should be removed to foster regional integration and development.

“Human barriers are the worst barriers such as immigration officers, bureaucrats, etc. They must be removed. We need partners and off-takers in the green hydrogen project and there is a lot of interest in the project, especially from Europeans, because they are in trouble for other reasons and it’s important for South Africans to already position themselves,” Geingob added.

Source: The Namibian Press Agency