Namibia and Palestine signed a memorandum of
understanding (MoU) on Friday to co-operate in areas such as the financing of
joint agriculture projects, research in agro-technology, food security and
more.
At the first-ever agreement signing ceremony
on agriculture between the two countries here, Minister of Agriculture, Water
and Forestry, John Mutorwa, noted that Namibia supports the just cause of the
Palestinian people and their right to statehood.
"Our two countries largely share similar
climatic conditions of arid to semi-arid climates, with limited arable land. It
is thus imperative to share experiences and technical knowledge in agriculture,
more so now with the challenge of climate change, which the entire world is
facing," he stressed.
According to Mutorwa, climate change has
affected and is affecting Namibia to such an extent that government has
identified the country to be highly vulnerable to the negative impact of
climate change.
He indicated that for this reason, areas such
as the expansion of agriculture and food production, agri-business and
increased investments in agriculture, to mention but a few, are some of the
projects that could be jointly implemented in the rural areas of Namibia and
Palestine.
"Namibia will continue to support the
legitimate struggle of the Palestinian people, to achieve their inalienable
right to national self-determination and independence. We also support the
Two-State nation, a Palestinian state living side-by-side with the state of
Israel, in peace and harmony," he noted.
Meanwhile, at the same occasion, Palestinian
Minister of Agriculture, Walid Assaf, noted that Israel's obstruction of water
and sanitation to Palestinians has hampered agricultural development in his
country.
He noted that without the sovereignty of the
Palestinians over their natural resources, specifically land and water, optimal
development would not happen.
The agreement will strengthen and consolidate
co-operation between the two countries, which will exchange know-how in the
fields of water, modern irrigation techniques, forestry development, controlling
animal cross-border diseases and co-operation in plant protection, medicinal
and aroma herbs and modern date planting techniques.
"We are ready to support Namibian
farmers with the transfer of technology and training," he noted.
A high-level Palestinian-Namibian
Agricultural Committee was appointed to supervise the implementation of the
agreement by introducing the co-operation priorities and vital projects for
both ministries.
The committee is also responsible for setting
up an action plan and timetable to ensure the implementation of the MoU.
The committee will meet once a year to review
the progress of the agreed upon co-operation. - Nampa
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