MANILA -- The governments of Namibia and the Philippines are now exploring more comprehensive bilateral ties as they agreed on Thursday to enhance their common areas, especially on trade and industry, agriculture, technical cooperation, and the welfare of their nationalities.

“What is left to us now is for us to find those complementarities. Those areas that we can help each other,” President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. told Namibia Non-Resident Ambassador to the Philippines H.E. Herman Pule Diamonds who presented his credentials to the President at the Malacañan Palace.

President Marcos said that the Philippines has a lot to offer to the government of Namibia in terms of helping them develop their agricultural sector especially since the International Rice Research Institute is located in the country.

The President added that the Philippines has also its own rice institute and educational institutions that are doing research on agriculture and agriculture development in the Philippines.

“So, there is a great deal of knowledge,” President Marcos told Diamonds.

“We take pride in the fact that many of the agriculturists and agronomists around Southeast Asia trained with us and we can claim credit for some of the success that they are enjoying now. So, I think that is something that we could certainly look into,” the chief executive added.

For his part, Diamonds told President Marcos that they are also interested in further developing the cooperation between the Philippines and Namibia in terms of trade and investment.

Diamonds added that the government of Namibia is also considering having intensified technical cooperation with the Philippines, saying that there are some technological advances in the Philippines that they do not have yet in their country.

“So, my task is to see how we can perhaps, maybe turn this around and make most space for us to cooperate [in terms of] trade and investment. So, this is the reason why we are here … So, I was the one saying look here we have to diversify. And that is precisely what I’m looking at coming,” Diamonds said.

“So, we are mostly in those areas. We also have the same challenges. As the Philippines [there are] technologies, which we do not have. So, this is also an area where we can see technical cooperation,” he added.

The Ambassador also expressed his appreciation for the Philippine government in ensuring the welfare of the overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) and the Filipino community in Namibia.

Responding to Namibia’s observation about Filipino workers abroad, President Marcos took pride in the Filipinos’ hospitality as he emphasized that they are very industrious employees around the world.

“We’re very proud of our overseas workers. They do a great deal for our country and they have polished and made our reputation all over the world and again, we’re very proud of them,” President Marcos said in response to Diamond’s remarks about the OFWs.

Diamond is currently based in Kuala Lumpur. (PND)