India had been in the forefront of the liberation struggle of Namibia and was indeed among the first nations to raise the question of Namibian independence in the UN. Since 1946, in every international forum, especially the UN Committee on Decolonisation, India took the lead in supporting the Namibian liberation struggle and provided all possible moral, material and diplomatic support to the Namibian leadership in exile. The Indian assistance covered training, medicines, humanitarian relief; besides, implementing the Government of India's Africa Fund, India also contributed to the Special NAM Fund for Namibia, NAM Solidarity Fund for Namibia and the Commonwealth Special Training Programme for Namibia . Mr. Brajesh Mishra was UN Commissioner for Namibia from 1982-87.
India recognised South West African Peoples Organisation (SWAPO) as the sole and authentic representative of the Namibian people and allowed it to open an office in India in 1981. The first ever SWAPO Embassy abroad was established in New Delhi in 1986. The SWAPO Mission was closed after independence of Namibia. Government of Namibia opened a full-fledged resident Mission in New Delhi in March 1994.
An Indian Observer Mission was set up in Windhoek in July 1989 to monitor the implementation of the UN settlement process and to liaise with SWAPO. India contributed contingents of Army, Police and Civilian Observers to help during the transitional period through maintenance of law and order and supervision of the election process. It is noteworthy that a retired Indian Army Officer, late General Prem Chand commanded the force under the United Nation's Transition Assistance Group (UNTAG).
Diplomatic relations with independent Namibia were established right from the moment of its independence, with the Observer Mission being upgraded to a full-fledged High Commission on March 21, 1990. The independence celebrations were attended by a delegation led by the then Prime Minister, Mr. V.P. Singh, which included senior leaders of other parties (Mr. K.R. Narayanan, Mr. Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Mr. Indrajit Gupta, Mr. H.S. Surjeet), to underline the national consensus that lay behind our policy towards Namibia. The then Leader of the Opposition, late Mr. Rajiv Gandhi, also attended, as a Special Guest.
Since Namibian independence, bilateral relations, including political, have been extremely active marked by warmth and understanding. India 's continued commitment to the task of Namibian reconstruction has been very much evident and appreciated.
India-Africa Forum Summit that underlined India’s desire and intention to broaden and deepen its consistent and long-standing engagement with Africa is viewed positively by Namibia. A number of projects have been earmarked for Namibia under the aid package announced during the India-Africa Forum Summit, New Delhi.
Visits from India :
(i) H.E. Mr. V.P. Singh, Prime Minister of India, 21 March, 1990 (ii) H.E. Dr. Shanker Dayal Sharma, President of India: June 5 to 7, 1995 (iii) H.E. Mr. Atal Bihari Vajpayee. Prime Minister of India: August 30-31, 1998 (iv) Speaker of the Lok Sabha (Shri G.M.C. Balyogi) in 1998 (v) H.E. Ms. Vasundhara Raje, Minister of Small Scale Industries: September 2001 (vi) Parliamentary delegation for the 48th Commonwealth Parliamentary Association Conference: September 2002 and several Cabinet level visits. More recently, MOS, MEA Shri Anand Sharma visited Namibia in April 2006 for the SADC Consultative Meeting and the first meeting of India-SADC Forum. MOS (Agriculture), Shri K.L. Bhuria visited Namibia in November, 2006 and signed a comprehensive Agricultural Work Plan with Namibia and the successful visit of MOS (C) to Namibia in March 2008.
Major visits from Namibia :
(i) H.E. Dr. Sam Nujoma, President of Namibia: 1983 (3 times), 1985 (2 times), 1986, 1988, 1992, 1997, 1999 & 2003. (ii) Rt. Hon. Mr. Hage G. Geingob. Prime Minister of Namibia: November 25 to December 1, 1995
(iii) Prime Minister Mr. Hage G. Geingob: November-December, 1995, several cabinet level visits from Namibia more recently the visits of Namibian ministers for Agriculture and Defence in 2005; Defence Minister Namolo visited India in January 2007; Foreign Minister Marco Hausiku paid a successful visit to India in October 2006 and was one of the first Foreign Ministers from abroad to meet our EAM; a high-level joint Parliamentary delegation headed by the Speaker of the Namibian National Assembly, Dr. Theo-Ben Gurirab visited India in December 2006; the Minister for Information & Broadcasting, Mrs. Netunda Nandi-Ndaitwah visited India in March 2007. The Namibian Minister of Trade and Industry Immanuel Ngatjizeko led a Namibian trade and industry delegation for the CII Conclave on India-Africa Project Partnership – 2007 held in Maputo (July 1 - 4, 2007). The Namibian Minister of Mines and Energy Erkki Nghimtina led the Namibian delegation to the India-Africa Hydrocarbon Conference and Exhibition, 6-7 November, 2007, New Delhi. The Namibian Minister for Agriculture, Water and Forestry visited India in December 2007. The Namibian Minister of Defence Maj. Gen. (Rtd.) Charles Nomoloh visited India in February 2008. The Namibian Minister of Works, Transport and Communication Joel Kaapanda visited India in February 2008.)

Trade and Economic Cooperation:

Namibia is a large country with a surface area of 824,268 square kilometres [about ¼ the size of India], with a population of only 2.0 million.

According to the Export-Import Data Bank of Department of Commerce the following are the trade figures relating to Namibia (in million US dollars):

Main trading partners of Namibia:

Namibia’s total trade and comparative figures for Imports & Exports of Namibia for 2005 and 2006 (Source EIU):

Trade imports & Exports of Namibia with items for 2006:

Main trading partners and percentage of total trade:

Commodities of export/import India – Namibia:

The principal commodities of export from India to Namibia are drugs and pharmaceuticals, inorganic/organic/agro chemicals, glass/glassware, plastic and linoleum products, manufactures of metals, machine tools, machinery & instruments, transport equipments, rubber manufactured products and electronic goods. The top ten items of export from India to Namibia, according to Namibian statistics are (i) Pharmaceuticals (ii) Boilers, Machinery, etc. and parts thereof (iii) Glass and Glassware (iv) Optical, Photographic instruments etc. and parts thereof (v) Vehicles (Excluding trains); parts and accessories thereof (vi) Electrical Machinery, Sound Recorders/Reproducers, TVs and parts thereof (vii) Inorganic Chemicals, Compounds of precious metals etc. (viii) Articles of Leather, Saddlery & harness, travel goods etc. (ix) Aluminium and articles thereof.

The principal commodities of import from Namibia to India are non-ferrous metals, metalifiers ores & metal scrap, transport equipments, machinery except electrical & electronic.

The volume of trade between the two countries, which is in India’s favour, is small. India’s exports to Namibia were US $ 18.48 million while imports from Namibia to India was US $ 3.42 million in 2006-07. Indian products from South Africa are re-imported into Namibia and shown as imports from South Africa. Similarly, Namibian rough diamonds arrive in India via London/Antwerp and do not get reflected in the bilateral trade figures.

Accordingly, the volume of trade between Namibia and India could be over 20% more than the reflected figures. Significantly, the importance of Namibia for India’s trade to neighbouring SADC countries is growing steadily.
Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation Programme (ITEC)/ Special Commonwealth African Assistance Plan (SCAAP):
Under these programme, the Technical Cooperation Division of the Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India offers technical assistance to 156 developing countries in Africa, Asia, Eurasia, Latin America, Central Asia, Gulf, the Pacific Island countries and the Caribbean.
The various fields covered under the Programme are, Audit, Banking, Finance & Accounts, Drugs and Pharmaceuticals, Education Planning and Administration, English Language, Entrepreneurship, Food Technology, Human Resource Planning, Information Technology, Journalism & Mass Communication, Labour Administration and Employment relations in a global economy, Manpower Planning, Management, Oceanography, Remote Sensing, Parliamentary studies, Rural Development, Small Scale Industries, Standardization, Small Business Development, Textile Technology (website for the list/details of these programmes: http://itec.nic.in ).
The Programmes aim at the developing countries to work together to overcome their common vulnerabilities and disadvantages and to maximise the benefits that could accrue from the process of globalisation through sharing of expertise in various fields. Thus, the programmes have found to receive a high degree of acceptability, resulting in the accrual of well-earned goodwill for India and boosted its image.
The ITEC assistance is granted under the following four categories:
• Training (Both Civil and Military) – nearly 400 Government officials/other trainees since independence in Namibia.
• Projects and Project - related assistance such as supply of equipment, consultancy services and feasibility studies. For example, India-Namibia Plastic Demonstration Centre, Ondangwa, Namibia
• Deputation of experts – Long term deputation of Indian experts with the Namibia Government and the University of Namibia, Windhoek, and short-term visits of experts.
• Study visits of senior officials/decision makers to India – several delegations.
Under the programmes, the Government offers full scholarship to selected candidates, which include the entire course fees, tuition fees, accommodation charges, living allowances, study tours, emergency medical assistance, return international fares and gratis visa. The applications are routed through the Namibian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Namibia is partner country under the Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation (ITEC) Programme. More than 400 Namibians have undergone training in India. Foreign Minister Mr. Marco Hausiku is the ITEC patron in Namibia.
The Ministry of External affairs also arranges for military training, under which nominees of friendly countries, including Namibia, are imparted training both long term and short term in national institutions in all the three wings of defence services, including the prestigious National Defence College, New Delhi and National Defence Services Staff College, Wellington.
Higher Education Opportunities in India:
The Indian Council of Cultural Relations (ICCR), an autonomous body with the Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India offers a few scholarships every year for students, including from a friendly country like Namibia, to pursue undergraduate/postgraduate courses/research work in various Indian Universities. These scholarships are offered under various schemes such as the General Cultural Scholarship Scheme (GCSS), the Commonwealth Scholarship/Fellowship Plan and the Africa Day Scholarship Scheme.
Besides, world-class, high quality education in India's premier institutions of higher learning, be it engineering, medicine or management, is available on self-financing basis at relatively inexpensive costs. The High Commission also assists students to study in India on self-financing basis through the Ministry of External Affairs for which advertisements in the local media appear in March of each year to join the academic sessions beginning July-August of the same year. Visitors to this website may also visit the portions dealing with education above.

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