BRIEFING SESSION FOR THE DIPLOMATIC CORPS, ON 20 NOVEMBER 2015 - TALKING POINTS FOR THE HONOURABLE DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER AND MINISTER OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS, OFFICE OF THE PRIME MINISTER
Honourable Deputy Ministers, Your Excellency, (...)
1. Welcoming:
We are almost at the end of 2015 calendar year hence a need for us to reflect on the year's activities. I welcome to you all and thank you for your outstanding and mutually supportive work during the year 2015. As some of you have presented your Letters of Credence to His Excellency President Hage G. Geingob recently, I once again congratulate you and welcome you to the diplomatic family in Namibia. I wish you all the best in your new assignment, and look forward to working with you in elevating even further our bilateral relations and cooperation.
At our last meeting which I can call a mid-term July review, I had an opportunity to introduce the political leadership of the Ministry which His Excellency President Geingob has put together. On the occasion I shared with you the central focus of Dr. Geingob's presidency, that is the fight against poverty. Therefore, I ask you as representatives of your respective countries to partner with us in our struggle against poverty.
I am happy to say that year 2015 has seen strengthening of cooperation between Namibia, your countries and organisations. Such cooperation is represented by high- level exchange visits with some of your countries and organization. The high number of bilateral activities, including joint commissions of cooperation and Working Groups undertaken during 2015, indicates healthy and strong cooperation with your countries, with whom we enjoy diplomatic relations.
In this regard, I thank those concerned for the successful arrangements, with particular reference to Embassies and High Commissions accredited to Namibia.
Though we may have experienced challenges during the past year, I can say with confidence that we always had the possibility of frank and open discussions to reach solutions, and to me that is a sign of strong and healthy relations.
2. Home
As you may be aware now, all our national policies are geared towards poverty eradication. Against that background we have put in place mechanism for implementations, monitoring and evaluation of national programmes. In September 2015, all Cabinet Ministers signed Performance Agreements with His Excellency the President and all Deputy Ministers signed Performance Agreements with Ministers, while Permanent Secretaries signed theirs with the Secretary to Cabinet. That is a mechanism His Excellency has put in place to ensure that as a Government we have deliver services to the People of Namibia. We are also focusing on economic growth for sustainable development, hence our emphasis on trade and investment.