New Delhi: Namibian President Hifikepunye Pohamba arrived here on a five-day state visit to India today. This is President Pohamba's first visit to India. He is accompanied by a 43-member delegation, which includes five Ministers, senior officials, representatives of Chambers of Commerce and Industry, businessmen. During his visit, President Pohamba will call on President Pratibha Patil and would hold official talks with Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh. Several agreements/MoUs for institutionalizing bilateral cooperation are expected to be signed. The two sides will ink a MoU to provide an umbrella framework for Indian investment in the exploration of mineral resources, including gold, diamond and uranium in Zambia . Vice President Hamid Ansari, the Leader of Opposition L K Advani and UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi will also call on him. The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM), the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and the Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) are jointly organizing an interaction with the Indian business community for the visiting Namibian delegation in New Delhi . India and Namibia enjoy friendly and mutually supportive ties. Both countries have excellent interaction in various international fora, including the UN, the NAM and the Commonwealth and share a commonality of views on major international issues such as UN Reforms and combating international terrorism. Namibia has consistently expressed its support for India 's candidature for Permanent Membership of an expanded the UNSC. The Namibian Government expressed its solidarity with and full support for India on the terrorist attacks in Mumbai in November 2008. India has executed a number of projects in Namibia including plastic demonstration centres, biogas units and solar power plants. India had gifted tractors and diesel engine pumps to the Namibian agriculture sector and 20 incubators to the Indira Gandhi Maternity Clinic in Namibia . Namibia regularly avails of training facilities under ITEC programme in various fields. Several Indian ITEC experts have been involved with policy formulation in the country since independence.
-August 30, 2009