We have failed - Tweya
Twenty-eight years after independence the nation has failed to manufacture something as basic as toothpicks, says industrialisation minister Tjekero Tweya.
Speaking at the opening of the third annual SADC Industrialisation Week in Windhoek yesterday, the minister said Namibia must import toothpicks from China.
“We are now 28 years as a free nation, we have adopted industrialisation and Growth at Home for a couple of years. I will not go to cement, I will speak about a small example. Toothpicks. For 28 years we have not been able to produce our own toothpicks, we would rather spend money to travel thousands of kilometres to China to go and buy toothpicks,” he said.
He added that it doesn't make sense that 'overdrafts' are available for these trips to China.
Instead, he said, local production must be stimulated in order to create jobs and Namibians must adopt a different mindset.
Tweya also criticised the Namibian nation for constantly talking about how youth unemployment is a time bomb but nothing is done to address it.
Lack of regional trade
The deputy executive secretary for regional integration at the SADC Secretariat, Tapiwa Samanga, also lamented the lack of regional trade despite numerous reforms to deepen regional integration.
He warned that the region can no longer remain passive in the quest for industrialisation.
“Lack of industrialisation is one of the reasons why intra-SADC and intra-Africa trade figures remain low. Intra-SADC trade, though fluctuating, has consistently remained around a paltry 10% compared to other regions like the South-East Asian Nations (24%) and the European Union (40%), while intra-African trade has remained at around 15% of Africa's total trade over the past decade,” he said.
According to him this implies that 90% of trade in SADC is with the rest of the world, while it is 86% in the case of Africa.
“We need to strongly question these figures given that it is now 26 years since the establishment of the Southern African Development Community and our regional integration effort.
“We need to walk the talk and take the SADC to a higher trajectory of achievement, growth and development. It is the opportune time for us to look back and see how much ground has been covered and what needs to be done going forward in pursuit of this noble objective.”
JEMIMA BEUKES
Speaking at the opening of the third annual SADC Industrialisation Week in Windhoek yesterday, the minister said Namibia must import toothpicks from China.
“We are now 28 years as a free nation, we have adopted industrialisation and Growth at Home for a couple of years. I will not go to cement, I will speak about a small example. Toothpicks. For 28 years we have not been able to produce our own toothpicks, we would rather spend money to travel thousands of kilometres to China to go and buy toothpicks,” he said.
He added that it doesn't make sense that 'overdrafts' are available for these trips to China.
Instead, he said, local production must be stimulated in order to create jobs and Namibians must adopt a different mindset.
Tweya also criticised the Namibian nation for constantly talking about how youth unemployment is a time bomb but nothing is done to address it.
Lack of regional trade
The deputy executive secretary for regional integration at the SADC Secretariat, Tapiwa Samanga, also lamented the lack of regional trade despite numerous reforms to deepen regional integration.
He warned that the region can no longer remain passive in the quest for industrialisation.
“Lack of industrialisation is one of the reasons why intra-SADC and intra-Africa trade figures remain low. Intra-SADC trade, though fluctuating, has consistently remained around a paltry 10% compared to other regions like the South-East Asian Nations (24%) and the European Union (40%), while intra-African trade has remained at around 15% of Africa's total trade over the past decade,” he said.
According to him this implies that 90% of trade in SADC is with the rest of the world, while it is 86% in the case of Africa.
“We need to strongly question these figures given that it is now 26 years since the establishment of the Southern African Development Community and our regional integration effort.
“We need to walk the talk and take the SADC to a higher trajectory of achievement, growth and development. It is the opportune time for us to look back and see how much ground has been covered and what needs to be done going forward in pursuit of this noble objective.”
JEMIMA BEUKES
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