Windhoek [Namibia], July 10 (ANI): The Ministry of External Affairs on Wednesday highlighted that during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Namibia, delegation-level talks covered a wide range of issues, with a significant focus on critical minerals.

The discussions aimed to strengthen bilateral ties and explore opportunities for cooperation in various sectors

Secretary (East), Dammu Ravi, during the MEA briefing said, 'The delegation-level talks covered a wide gamut of issues, and both sides had the opportunity also to expand the existing cooperation. The bilateral relationship, as you know, is underpinned by trade and economic interest ... investments on both sides.'

India and Namibia discussed potential partnerships in the critical mineral sector, including a proposed Critical Mineral Partnership Agreement. Namibia's rich deposits of uranium, copper, cobalt, and rare earths make it an attractive partner for India.

Emphasising the upward trajectory of bilateral trade, he noted, 'The trade is about $600 million in favor of India, marginally, and investments from India are about $800 million, and the cooperation that we discussed was in the area of natural resources, because as you know that Namibia is endowed with rich natural resources like diamonds, lithium, copper, cobalt, graphite, all of these rich critical minerals are useful for our industry.'

'I mean that defense or critical minerals are some of the areas that were discussed. In defense, Namibia is interested in procurement of equipment from India. And we offered them a line of credit, especially for the defense. We have one for civil also,' said India's High Commissioner to Namibia, Rahul Shrivastava, who participated in the briefing.

Other avenues of collaboration discussed included health, capacity building, and the agri sector.

'The cooperation in the area of health was discussed, which also included the possibility of Janaushadhi being introduced in Namibia, also supply of medicines and direct sourcing from India. The cooperation in the area of agriculture was another item that came up in the discussions, and there again, as Namibia has huge land tracts, there is a possibility of India supporting with equipment, machinery, and able to grow food crops for the food security of Namibia,' said Dammu Ravi.

Congratulating Namibia on electing its first woman president, Ravi said, 'This visit is taking place after 27 years by Prime Minister of India, and it is also the time when the President of Namibia has just assumed her office in March this year after a landslide victory, which means that there will be continuity in our relationship, and it will facilitate further deepening of the relationship.'

Defence cooperation, another area that came up for discussion, and most importantly, in the digital public infrastructure.

'Namibia is the first country in the world where NPCI, National Payment Corporation of India, and the Namibian Central Bank have entered into an agreement, a licensing agreement to deployment of UPI in Namibia for real-time payments. And this is a significant development. We believe that this will open up new avenues for cooperation in the digital space between our two countries,' said Secretary (East).

There were several announcements today regarding the agreements. The Memoranda of Understanding relate to the establishment of the Entrepreneurship Centre in Namibia and cooperation in the health sector. There were three announcements made, one relating to the UPI, or Unified Payment Interface. The second one is Namibia joining the Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure, and Namibia also joining the Global Biofuel Alliance.

'These are the narratives of the Global South, and it's a very important cooperation that will emerge out of this. Particularly in the case of CDRI is countries affected by these natural disasters, either it is floods or drought or even pandemics, how we can, both countries can cooperate. I think in recent times India has been very active in reaching out to our partner countries in providing these relief materials,' said Ravi.

'In the same light, I see the Global Biofuel Alliance as well, because alternatives to the oil, gas has to be formed. And this is a very good initiative India has successfully introduced, which is able to also save your own hard currency that countries would need to import. But this technology India has now very well experimented and successfully using in our country and in the Global South, through this Biofuel Alliance, will be able to reach out to them and introduce this technology,' he added.

But that's a part we should be able to also look at early warning systems and how quickly both countries can respond to natural crises that may arise in this part of the world. Because you also know that climate change is affecting our nations very, very differently, and most countries in the Global South are vulnerable because of the climate change. So, we have to cooperate even stronger on it.

'Capacity building is another ongoing area. ITEC scholarship has been extensively used by Namibian experts, both defense and civilian, and here again, we have both sides discussed to expand this possibility of enhancing the cooperation and capacity building,' he added.

Both sides also touched upon the multilateral issues. There was condemnation of terrorism in all its manifestations, including the Pahalgam terrorist attack, when Namibia expressed solidarity for India.

There was also talk about reforming of the multilateral institutions, and there was a clear understanding by both the leaders that it's very important that multilateralism is strengthened for the South-South cooperation, and both sides to be able to find solutions for the challenges that the countries in the Global South are facing.

PM Modi also received Namibia's highest civilian award- the Order of the Most Ancient Welwitschia Mirabilis, during his visit to the country.

This makes it the 27th award for PM Modi and the 4th award in this ongoing tour. (ANI)