GRANTED AUDIENCE TO THE NAMIBIAN MINISTER OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS AND TRADE, HON. SELMA ASHIPALA-MUSAVYI

In the margins of the inaugural Commonwealth Business Summit (CBS) organised in Windhoek, Namibia, from 18 to 20 June 2025, H.E. Felix MBAYU, Minister Delegate to the Minister of External Relations in charge of Cooperation with the Commonwealth (MINDELCOM), Head of Cameroon’s delegation, met with the Namibian Minister of International Relations and Trade, Hon. Selma ASHIPALA-MUSAVYI, on Wednesday 18 June 2025.

The Ministers explored ways of strengthening bilateral cooperation between Cameroon and Namibia, especially within the backdrop of the strong people-to-people relations that characterised ties between both countries in the seventies and eighties, during the Namibian struggle for independence, with Cameroon hosting hundreds of Namibian citizens  who found foster families and created lifelong relationships.

The Ministers discussed concrete ways of bolstering cooperation by developing stronger trade ties within the framework of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), as both countries have the necessary commodities that could be traded both ways.

They equally expressed the need to deepen bilateral cooperation through legal instruments such as: a Memorandum of Understanding setting up regular Political Consultations; a Convention to avoid double taxation; and an Agreement on the promotion and protection of investments. Both ministers concluded that the bilateral trade agreements that could be signed, would spur increased trade volume, economic growth, and potentially lower prices for consumers in Cameroon and Namibia.

Moreover, H.E. Felix MBAYU extended an invitation for his Namibian counterpart to attend the 14th World Trade Organization (WTO) Ministerial Conference (MC14) to be hosted by Cameroon in March 2026 in Yaounde.