MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 24th May, 2019) Namibia has asked Russia for humanitarian assistance in the wake of the severest drought since 1945 that has recently hit the African country, the press service of Russian Deputy Prime Minister and Presidential Envoy to the Far East Yury Trutnev said in a statement on Thursday.
Earlier in the day, the eighth session of the Russian-Namibian Inter-Governmental Commission on Trade and Economic Cooperation took place in the Namibian capital of Windhoek. Trutnev co-chairs the intergovernmental commission from the Russian side.
"The Namibian side has requested humanitarian assistance. This year, Namibia has faced a drought that proved to be the worst in the period since 1945. It was almost not rained in Namibia for the entire rainy season, which has already ended. A state of emergency was introduced in connection with the natural disaster in the form of drought in all regions of the Republic of Namibia," the statement said.
According to the statement, Trutnev said that Russia would consider the Namibian request as soon as possible.
The statement also added that Russia provided humanitarian assistance to Namibia, when it was affected by drought in 2013. About 35 tonnes of humanitarian aid were delivered then to the African country by Russian Emergency Ministry's aircraft.
Moreover, Trutnev's press service said that during the session of the intergovernmental commission Russia offered Namibia cooperation in the fields of nuclear energy, geology and subsoil use and a number of other areas that could upgrade Russian-Namibian trade and economic relations.
"The Russian side proposed cooperation in a number of promising areas, by which our trade and economic relations could be brought to a new level with the strengthening of efforts of both sides. These include nuclear power and nuclear non-energy technologies, geology and subsoil use, deliveries of industrial and agricultural products, solutions for land reclamation and agriculture, technologies for smart cities and telecommunications," the press service noted.
Russia is also interested in establishing bilateral cooperation in trade, investment, scientific and academic exchanges, the press service specified.
