The government says it is in discussion with Zambia to enter into an agreement similar to that of Botswana where nationals of the two countries can travel using national identity documents (IDs) and not passports.
According to President Hage Geingob, the country is also targeting agreements with Angola and South Africa, a development that is expected to ease free movement between the neighbouring countries.
“Once we are done with Zambia, we shall endeavour the same with Angola and, lastly, with South Africa. We are talking about the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), which aims to enhance the trading of goods in the region while further promoting the free movement of people,” he said.
Geingob said this during a media engagement on Monday, giving an update on the activities of the year christened “Year of Revival.”
Meanwhile, the Minister of Home Affairs, Immigration, Safety and Security, Albert Kawana, said the use of IDs has turned out to be an easy form of granting access to movement to people travelling to another country.
“This will also work in favour as we are still engaging our Angolan counterparts to have the Oshikango border operating on a 24-hour basis, thus the use of IDs as travelling documents will be a great necessity. We have seen how effective it is since we launched this initiative with Botswana at the TransKalahari border post and eventually extended it to other points of entry with Botswana,” he said.
The pronouncement follows an agreement signed in February between Namibia and Botswana, allowing the use of IDs as travel documents between the two countries.
