THE dry port of Zimbabwe at Walvis Bay is set to be inaugurated during Zimbabwean president Emmerson Mnangagwa’s three-day state visit to Namibia this week.

This was announced in a statement issued by Namibian presidential press secretary Alfredo Hengari on Tuesday evening. 

President Hage Geingob will be hosting Mnangagwa from Wednesday to Friday, during which time Namibia is also hosting the ninth session of the Namibia-Zimbabwe Joint Commission of Cooperation and the fifth round of Namibia-Zimbabwe political and diplomatic consultations, Hengari’s statement details. 

“The state visit will serve as an opportunity to further strengthen bilateral relations between Namibia and Zimbabwe, including new possible areas of cooperation,” the statement also said. 

In a statement on Tuesday, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Trade Minister Sibusiso Moyo said:

“The dry port is land that was donated by the Namibian government to Zimbabwe so that we build the dry port and it has been completed through contributions by the Road Motor Services here in Zimbabwe.

“We expect that this is going to be one of the gateways, particularly to South America, to West Africa and to several other countries in that part of the world, so that we can then use that route of the Caprivi Strip.

That is within the framework of the (African)Continental Free Trade Area.”

Furthermore, the two heads of state are expected to sign a number of bilateral agreements aimed at boosting trade and investment between the two countries.