Happy New Year to everyone – both in Namibia and further afield. I hope you all had a chance to enjoy the good company of family and friends over the festive season, to enjoy some fireworks and frolics wherever you were, and have come back refreshed and ready for the year to come. 2014 already looks set to be an exciting one for UK-Namibian relations. Namibian Prime Minister Hage Geingob met with our Minister for Africa Mark Simmonds in London last week (9 January) at the Foreign & Commonwealth Offices in London. They had wide-ranging and constructive discussions covering strengthening our already healthy trade links, illegal wildlife trade issues and a range of foreign policy issues. A great start to the year to help cement our deepening bilateral relations still further.
Back in Namibia, the Commonwealth baton is set to arrive on these shores at the end of this month on its global journey around all commonwealth countries ahead of this year’s Commonwealth Games in Glasgow in July and August. We remain in close contact with the Namibian sporting authorities who are firmly in the lead on its visit to Namibia but hope to swing the baton by the High Commission offices on its route through the capital and plan to host a Scottish themed reception to mark the occasion. Plenty of Scottish shortbread, tartan and even some whisky for those from the British community who can attend. So we are now desperately calling all Scots in Namibia to make themselves known to us – particularly ones that own kilts – and are also on the lookout for a Scottish bagpiper if anyone can alert us to one in Namibia. Please contact: hans-christian.mahnke@fco.gov.uk.
To mark the Commonwealth baton passing through Namibia, the British High Commission will also donate sports material valued at more than N$12.000 (£750) to the offices of a local NGO called “Physically Active Youth Namibia” (PAY), in Katutura, Windhoek’s township. PAY, under the leadership of Marie-Jeanne Ndimbira, organises school activity programmes where approximately 100 registered participants per term come every day for academic tutoring, a light meal during the break and sports. Every Friday the format is changed to incorporate life skills training, the aim of which is to foster critical thinking among youth and empower them to become active agents of change in their community as well as responsible global citizens. The donation will support PAY in their planned nationwide roll-out of activities in 2014/15. This support to PAY helps us to deliver a strong local legacy from the Commonwealth Games to Namibia.
For the coast, I aim to travel across to Erongo next month to host a reception for the British community in Swakopmund on 25 February and introduce our new Pro Consul Bernice Du Plessis, who will be able to update British nationals on our consular services and update our UK mapping exercise further. Details to come on UKinNamibia Facebook. We also have another Royal Navy visit planned in March – when a frigate and helicopter will call into Walvis Bay and we aim to host another business themed reception on board. A great bonus for our bilateral defence relations, which will be strengthened further by this visit, after the successful call of HMS Argyll in May 2013.
Further afield, there are plenty of big piece foreign policy events due to happen this year too: a major Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict Conference in London in June, and the NATO Summit in Wales in September, are but two that are scheduled to happen in the UK this year as well as the Commonwealth Games in Scotland.
In 2014, we expect good growth in the UK economy and my team will be focusing harder than ever on promoting trade, investment and the British government’s wider Prosperity agenda throughout the year. Plenty of activities for the local British Business Group in the pipeline, including a session to discuss incorporating human rights into business dealings, set for February. So a year busy and varied year ahead of us. Both myself and my team hope to get out beyond our office in Robert Mugabe Avenue as much as possible this year to engage with members of the British community, Namibian stakeholders and contacts from across our Prosperity, Consular and Security business interests. Do keep us with our activities via our UKinNamibia website www.gov.uk/world/namibia and Facebook pages and stay connected with us. British High Commissioner to the Republic of Namibia HE Mrs Marianne Young