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namib times
SERVING THE COASTAL COMMUNITY SINCE 1958 NO 6837 TUESDAY 21 JANUARY 2020 Tel: +264 64 - 205854 / +264 64 - 461866 /Fax: +264 64 - 204813 / 064 - 461824 / Website: www.namibtimes.net
inside Extreme weather
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Walvis Bay-bound MSC Property News Orchestra hauled up in Angola pulls out all the C.T. amidst strong winds stops to attract investors Strong winds battered Cape Town on Friday and over the weekend, resul-
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The Angolan government has been introducing several initiatives to encourage investment and business opportunities in the oil rich country since former president José Eduardo dos Santos stepped down. The first new president in 38 years, João Lourenço, took over at the end of 2017. One of his first initiatives was to relax the visa requirements for countries like Botswana, Mauritius, the Seychelles, Zimbabwe and notably Singapore. Citizens from Namibia, South Africa, Mozambique, the Cape Verde, Rwanda and Zambia can enter Angola without having to apply for a business or tourist visa. “It is clearly an effort by the Angolan government to encourage business and investments into the country, and to alleviate the unavailability of foreign currency in the country and the challenges behind that,” says Tarissa Wareley, immigration specialist at Xpatweb. She says another innovative decision is to allow people to conduct business under a tourist visa. This is a concession to investors from countries who are still required to enter the country with a visa. “A tourist visa will now suffice, even though visitors will be doing business or negotiating investments.” Wareley says the government has also extended the validity of the tourist visa from 90 days to 120 days. The introduction of e-visa applications has streamlined the process to allow for easy access into the country. The e-visa will be issued within 24 hours. The normal processing times for visas range anything between two to three weeks. If there is an urgent need for a business or investors to enter Angola it will no longer be subjected to this delay. “It allows business people and potential investors the opportunity to Continues on page 2
ting among others in the Walvis Bay-bound MSC Orchestra passenger liner hauled up in the port of Cape Town. The vessel’s new arrival date and time in Walvis Bay is yet unknown. Satellite data showed yesterday MSC Orchestra still off Cape Town. On the picture: two tugs struggled to bring the MSC Orchestra alongside in Cape Town amidst strong winds. A second passenger vessel, Artania, was also hauled up as a result of the strong winds. At lunch yesterday she was spotted off False Bay making her way to Durban.
Knowledge Ipinge sworn in as Regional Councillor Sharlien Tjambari The first ever independent candidate to be elected on the Erongo Regional Council, Knowledge Ipinge, was sworn in as councillor on Thursday, a day after he won the by-election for the Erongo Regional Council's Walvis Bay Urban Constituency. Clr Ipinge attracted 1 636 votes. That was 323 votes more than Swapo candidate Sirie Topulathana. The byelection was marred by an extremely low voters turnout of 15, 5 % of the approximately 23 000 voters who were eligible to cast their votes in the
Walvis Bay Urban Constituency. The Swapo Party of Namibia has it increasingly difficult to keep traction in Erongo Region, with both independent candidates and the growing opposition parties posing a challenge. In the November 2019
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Cargo handling in port this week
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New dates for Afcon 2021
Presidential and National Assembly elections the independent presidential candidate Panduleni Ithula gathered more votes than Swapo-presidential candidate Dr Hage Geingob and equally opposition parties combined took more
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