The meeting took place on the sidelines of the 12th Bali Democracy Forum (BDF) held in Nusa Dua, Bali, ThursdayJakarta (ANTARA) - Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi held bilateral talks with Namibian Minister of International Cooperation and Relations Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah to discuss ways to enhance cooperation between the two countries in the field of infrastructure and trade. The meeting took place on the sidelines of the 12th Bali Democracy Forum (BDF) held in Nusa Dua, Bali, Thursday, the Indonesian Foreign Ministry said in a written statement released Friday.
At the meeting, the Namibian government once again offered cooperation to Indonesian state-owned enterprises to develop infrastructures including the construction of people's housing complexes in Namibia.
Minister Retno Marsudi warmly welcomed the offer. It had been discussed when Namibian President Hage G. Geingob visited Indonesia in August 2018.
Indonesian’s Vice Foreign Minister and Namibia’s Vice Minister of Urban and Rural development followed up on the offer when they attended the Indonesia-Africa Infrastructure Dialogue (IAID) 2019.
In addition to cooperation in the infrastructure field, the two ministers also agreed to enhance trade relations by slashing import duties by signing Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA) with the Southern African Customs Union (SACU).
SACU is a customs organizations comprising five South African countries – Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, South Africa and Eswatini (formerly Swaziland).
As a SACU member, Namibia is expected to support the proposal for the creation of PTA Indonesia that will increase trade volume between the two countries.
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Translator: Yuni Arisandy Sinaga/Suharto
Editor: Rahmad Nasution
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