The Bilateral Relation Between Indonesia-Namibia

The two countries established diplomatic relation since the Independence of Namibia in 1990 and Indonesia opened its Embassy in Windhoek in 1994 (whereas, due to limited resources, Namibian Embassy is not established yet in Jakarta but taking care Namibian Embassy in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia). Since then, Indonesia and Namibia has a steady diplomatic relations, marked by warmth connections of friendship and good cooperation between two countries and its peoples.

Based on the Indonesian Constitution and as a member of the international community, Indonesia is obliged to open relations with other friendly countries and nations in the world. Indonesia’s relations with Namibia come a long way. Indonesia and Namibia shares similar history of oppression and subjugation under colonial power. Indonesia was colonized for more than 300 years and went through many ordeals in achieving its independence. Therefore, Indonesians could empathize and relate easily with the struggle for liberation by the oppressed Namibia against the apartheid regime. Since Namibia drawn out struggle for independence from colonial oppressor, Indonesia together with Asia and the Pacific, Europe, Canada and Latin America joined through diplomatic channels in the fight for the independence of Namibia.
At present, the two countries share cordial bilateral relations which are multi-facet, covering cooperation in the sphere of political, economic, socio-cultural and others. The primary goals of Indonesia-Namibia now are to intensify the trade, investment relations, agricultural, health and other sectors. Therefore, the two countries prepared to establish the Joint Commission of Cooperation on May 2009 in Jakarta.
Realizing the urgency in enhancing the bilateral relations, the Government of Indonesia and the Government of Namibia are now still putting their effort in establishing the Joint Commission of Co-operation.

As fellow developing country, Indonesia truly understands the difficulties and challenges to improve the quality of education as well as the living standard of women and children. Therefore, in the spirit of friendship and desire to help the less fortunate, the Republic of Indonesia through its Embassy in Windhoek has continuously been providing support and assistance to various schools, projects, and organizations in all parts of Namibia.  Reciprocally, the Government of the Republic Namibia always provides its support for Indonesia in international fora.

In addition to that, within the context of human capacity building, over the years the Government of Indonesia has organized several training programs through the Third Country Training Program for African Region and offers them to fellow developing countries, including Namibia. The training programs offered ranging from micro-finance, family planning, poverty reduction, agricultural engineering and technology as well as veterinary drug quality control. In this regard, we are very pleased of the positive response which constantly shown by the Government of Namibia by sending its representatives to the aforementioned training programs.

Bilateral Agreements :

1. Agreement between the Government of the Republic of Indonesia and the Government of the Republic of Namibia on Economic and Technical Co-operation, Jakarta 10 April 1997
2. MoU between the Government of the Republic of Indonesia and the Government of the Republic of Namibia concerning Mineral Resources and Energy Cooperation, Jakarta 19 August 1997.
3. Cooperation agreement between ANTARA News Agency and Namibia Press Agency, Jakarta 21 April 1998.

On going process :

1. The Establishment of A Joint Commission for Cooperation Between the Republic of Indonesia and  the Government of the Republic of Namibia
2. Trade Agreement between Government of the Republic of Indonesia and the Government of the Republic of Namibia