Namibia Tells New Swiss Envoy to Win Trade, Investment

Namibia and Switzerland are being pushed towards closer business ties by Namibia’s president. On Friday she told her new ambassador to turn decades of goodwill into trade, investment and jobs.

Namibia, a former German colony, won independence from South Africa in 1990 and lies on Africa’s Atlantic coast. It has about 3.1 million people and an economy of roughly US$15 billion, according to the World Bank.

President Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah commissioned Ndiitah Nghipondoka-Robiati at State House in Windhoek on Friday, 2 October 2026. She becomes ambassador-designate to Switzerland and Namibia’s permanent representative to the United Nations Office at Geneva.

An economic brief, not a ceremonial post

In her written charge, published by The Namibian newspaper, the president said the envoy must “translate the relationship into tangible cooperation.” She listed trade, investment, tourism, technology, knowledge transfer and development.

The president tied the posting to Namibia’s Sixth National Development Plan, known as NDP6. Its stated goals are economic growth, wealth creation, greater equality and more jobs.

She named seven priority areas, including agriculture, youth empowerment, education, creative industries and housing. She also listed the “economic enablers” the envoy should keep in mind.

Those enablers are mining, energy, oil and gas, tourism, agriculture, water, fisheries, and transport and logistics. For Swiss firms, that list doubles as a map of where Namibia wants partners.

A history Windhoek wants to cash in

The president reminded guests that Switzerland hosted the 1981 pre-implementation talks on Namibian independence in Geneva, under United Nations auspices.

Switzerland also sent a medical unit to the United Nations Transition Assistance Group, or UNTAG. That peacekeeping mission oversaw the 1989 elections that led to independence the following year.

“That history provides a strong foundation for further cooperation,” the president said. The new ambassador must now show that goodwill can become commercial business.

The trade deal already in place

Namibia belongs to the Southern African Customs Union (SACU), with Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho and South Africa. The bloc signed a free trade agreement with the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) in June 2006.

EFTA groups Switzerland, Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein, which are not members of the European Union. The agreement took effect on 1 May 2008, according to EFTA.

It gives duty-free access for most industrial goods and for fish and marine products. Basic farm goods are covered by separate bilateral deals between each EFTA state and SACU.

The services and investment chapters remain thin, with the parties only promising to “endeavour to extend the scope.” That gap is where a hands-on ambassador could make a difference.

A new nonstop flight from Zurich

Swiss leisure airline Edelweiss began seasonal nonstop flights between Zurich and Windhoek on 1 June 2026. The inaugural flight carried 285 passengers, The Namibian reported.

The president called the route a boost for “tourism and business exchanges.” A direct Swiss gateway also spares European visitors a change of planes in Johannesburg or Frankfurt.

Green hydrogen is the long-term prize

The president’s charge did not mention hydrogen. Yet green hydrogen, made with renewable power, is Namibia’s best-known pitch to European investors.

The flagship Hyphen Hydrogen Energy project plans about 2 million tonnes of green ammonia a year. Its cost is put at more than US$10 billion, and no final investment decision has been taken.

German utility RWE withdrew from the project in September 2025, Reuters reported. In December 2025 the African Development Bank approved a US$10 million loan for engineering studies.

Switzerland is home to major commodity traders, insurers and banks that finance global trade. Access to that network could help Namibia structure deals, even if Swiss demand for hydrogen itself is small.

The Geneva half of the job

As permanent representative, Nghipondoka-Robiati will also speak for Namibia at the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the World Health Organization (WHO). She will cover the UN Human Rights Council too.

The president asked her to make Namibia’s voice “constructive, principled and clearly heard” there. She also wants that work to bring partnerships, technical cooperation and investment.

What to watch next

The first formal step is for the ambassador-designate to present her credentials to the Swiss authorities in Bern. Only then can she act fully as ambassador.

After that, the test is concrete: Swiss investment pledges, new business links and whether the Edelweiss route returns and grows. Ties between Namibia and Switzerland have so far been warmer politically than commercially.

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