Namibia and China are looking to deepen cultural cooperation through stronger institutional partnerships, youth exchanges and support for the creative industries, as the two countries seek to translate their growing diplomatic ties into practical opportunities for their people.
The commitment was highlighted at the China-Namibia Culture Fair held in Windhoek, where Chinese and Namibian artists, students, educators, cultural institutions and creative practitioners came together to showcase the traditions and cultural heritage of both countries.
The event comes after President Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah's state visit to China in July, during which Namibia and China elevated their bilateral relations to a China-Namibia community with a shared future for the new era.
Chinese Ambassador to Namibia Zhao Weiping said the event also formed part of the 2026 China-Africa Year of People-to-People Exchanges, an initiative aimed at strengthening friendship and mutual understanding between China and African countries.
Zhao said cultural exchanges were an important means of allowing people from different backgrounds to understand, respect and learn from one another.
According to Zhao, the two countries reached important agreements to deepen cooperation in several areas, including culture, education and people-to-people exchanges.
"Through such exchanges, people of different cultural backgrounds come to know, respect, appreciate, and learn from each other. It's in this spirit we hope that China and Namibia will continue to strengthen cultural exchanges in various forms, making them an important bridge for promoting mutual understanding, friendship, and closer ties between our two peoples."
The Ministry of Education, Innovation, Youth, Sports, Arts and Culture's Executive Director, Erastus Haitengela, said strong relations between countries cannot be sustained through government-to-government engagement alone, pointing out that artists need opportunities to meet and collaborate, young people need platforms to exchange ideas, while museums, archives and libraries should be able to share knowledge and expertise.
The ministry identified several areas where cooperation with China could be expanded, including museum and heritage programmes, joint exhibitions, library and archive partnerships, digitisation and preservation of cultural collections, professional training, cultural tourism, traditional knowledge, film, music, fashion and creative entrepreneurship.
Zhao announced that the Chinese Embassy would provide an initial N$500,000 towards the establishment of the Namibia Authors and Writers Award, an initiative intended to promote reading, writing, research and creativity.