Agriculture and port issues discussed in South African-Namibian trade talks

High-level discussions come hard on the heels of South Africa hosting the African Free Trade and Investment conference in Cape Town The South African and Namibian fruit export sectors have for many years argued that the development of port infrastructure in Namibia and regular shipping opportunities from those ports would go a long way to resolving export logistics challenges in Southern Africa. This week they were given fresh hope with the official state visit of Namibian President, Hage G Geingob, and his trade delegation, to South Africa. This follows the African Free Trade Summit in Cape Town this week, which is another step forward in finalising arrangements for what is called the world’s largest economic and trade zone, serving some 1.3bn people. As part of the state visit South African agriculture minister Thoko Didiza met with her Namibian counterpart Carl-Hermann Gustav “Calle” Schlettwein, who also previously served as finance minister to discuss the opportunity to ...