President Pohamba of Namibia, who is also chairman of the SWAPO party, met on May 17th with Wang Gang, member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and vice chairman of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, who is visiting in Windhoek.

Pohamba said that Namibia and China enjoy long-lasting and traditional friendship. He expressed the willingness of the Namibian side to carry out long-term and strategic cooperation with China in more extensive areas.

Wang first conveyed to President Pohamba the cordial greetings from President Hu Jintao. Wang said that the friendship between the Chinese people and the Namibian people has time-honored history despite the vast distance separating the two countries. China-Namibia relationship, which is built on the basis of political mutual respect, economic win-win cooperation and cultural exchanges, is a paragon of South-South cooperation. China and Namibia are all-weather friends. Wang said that it is a consistent policy of the CPC and the Chinese government to consolidate and develop traditional friendship between China and Namibia. China is ready to work with Namibia to further enhance political mutual trust, expand economic and trade cooperation, deepen cultural exchanges and upgrade the friendly and cooperative relations between China and Namibia to new levels.

Founding President Nujoma also met with Wang Gang in Windhoek on May 18th. Nujoma said the the SWAPO party and the Namibian government would like to further strengthen the traditional friendship between the two countries and two peoples and to bring continuous progress in the friendly relations of cooperation between the two sides.

Wang said that China-Namibia friendship was built by the old generation of leaders including Mr. Nujoma and Chairman Mao Zedong. Wang said Nujoma is an old friend of the Chinese people who pioneered and witnessed traditional friendship between the two parties and friendly relations between the two countries. Wang expressed deep appreciation of the important contribution that Nujoma has made to the development of China-Namibia relations. The CPC and the Chinese government set great store by relations with Namibia and would like to make joint efforts with the Namibian side to deepen traditional friendship, expand practical cooperation in various areas and consolidate and develop China-Namibia relations which were built by the old generation of leaders, he said.