TALKS ON OPENING NAMIBIAN REPRESENTATIVE OFFICE IN JAKARTA

Jakarta, May 11 (ANTARA) - The Indonesian and Namibian governments will discuss the possibility of opening a Namibian representative office in Indonesia during an Indonesia-Namibia Joint Commission meeting here, a foreign ministry official said.

"At the meeting on May 11-12, 2009 Indonesia will ask Namibia about its wish to open a representative office here," director for African affairs at the Foreign Ministry Sudirman Haseng said here on Saturday.

The foreign ministries of Indonesia and Namibia were holding the joint commission meeting in an effort to identify fields of cooperation between the two nations.

He said Indonesia and Namibia had so far established various cooperative ties such as in the formation of a task force between the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin) and its Namibian counterpart, as well as the signing of a memorandum of understanding between the two countries.

In the future, the two nations will have a cooperation in the form of capacity building and training in the fields of agriculture, education and diplomat training.

The Namibian delegation is led by Namibian Foreign Minister Marco Hausiku. The delegation is also to represent Namibia at the World Ocean Conference in Manado on May 11 - 14, 2009.

Previously, foreign ministry spokesman Teuku Faizasyah said there three memorandums of understanding would be signed during the joint commission meeting.

The three MoUs concerned the establishment of a joint commission, cooperation in the field of agriculture and cooperation between Gajah Mada University and the University of Namibia.

Indonesia supported Namibian independence in 1990.

In 2008, two agricultural experts or lecturers from the University of Gajah Mada visited Namibia in the framework of cooperation between the University of Gajah Mada and the University of Namibia in the field of agriculture, particularly in the rice planting.

Indonesia and Namibia have also exchanged cultural missions while Indonesia has also attended several times exhibitions held in Windhoek, capital of Namibia.***5***