Developing value-added services and sectors in addition to its existing primary sectors is key for Namibia’s growth, Namibian High Commission in South Africa commercial counsellor Bonaventura Hinda emphasised during an intra-Africa business investment event on Thursday.

The Southern African nation already produced and exported a number of products, including livestock, meat and meat products, fish and fish products, sulphur, refined zinc, beverages and other commodities, such as copper.

However, the country was trying to attract further investment in infrastructure, mining, manufacturing, fisheries, agriculture and tourism, among others.

Hinda noted that the country’s political and economic stability and a number of tax incentives made it a lucrative investment destination.

In terms of mining investment, she noted that there was plenty of potential for investors to conduct further exploration in Namibia.

The country’s roads and ports infrastructure could also benefit from investment, she noted.

Zunaid Pochee, the business development manager at the Walvis Bay Corridor Group’s South African office, told delegates at the event that NamPort was planning to invest R1,7-billion on expanding the Walvis Bay port.

This would boost the port’s capacity of 260 000 twenty-foot equivalent unit (TEU) containers a year to 500 000 TEUs a year by 2011.

Environmental and feasibility studies were currently under way, with construction expected to start by the first quarter of 2010, said Pochee.

AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT

Meanwhile, Namibian Ministry of Agriculture, Water and Forestry deputy permanent secretary Anna Shiweda highlighted that the country plans to double its agricultural output in the years to come, by investing further in livestock, horticulture and certain crops.

She noted that the agricultural sector had not seen tangible investment over the past 20 years.

However, the Ministry was hoping to diversify its agricultural products and markets; develop and maintain agricultural infrastructure; create synergies through public–private partnerships and develop its skills and human capacity.

Once again, Shiweda highlighted that it was an important aim for this sector to expand into value-added services and products, such as the processing of foods, as well as manufacturing pharmaceuticals and perfumes from certain plant types.

The extraction of oil from crops such as sunflower, as well as sugar production and cogeneration from sugar production were other options the Ministry was aiming to invest in.

There was also “huge” potential to invest in the horticulture of products, including tomatoes, potatoes, onions, oranges, carrots, cabbages and more, she said.

Shiweda noted that the State would continue to provide the bulk of the funding for these initiatives until the private sector or commercial banks started investing in this sector.

Development finance institutions, like the Development Bank of Southern Africa, would also be approached.

EXPANDING TOURISM

While Namibia’s tourism industry has been growing steadily over the past few years, Ministry of Environment and Tourism’s director of tourism Sem Shikongo pointed out that the country’s tourism industry was a seasonal one, with revenues only being generated for five months to seven months of a year.

It was either “feast or famine”, he stated.

However, there was a lot of opportunity to develop accommodation and transport in the country.

The industry was also expected to branch out to include medical or health tourism, business tourism, cultural tourism, ecotourism and even sport tourism, he noted.

Shikongo said that the Ministry has commissioned a study to further investigate these potential subsectors, which could serve as an investment portfolio for potential investors.

This was expected to be completed by early 2010.