Namibia, a former German colony which, for decades, was known as South-West Africa, is situated at the southern end of the African continent. It is bordered on the north by Angola, on the south by South Africa, on the east by Botswana and on the west by the Atlantic Ocean. The capital city is Windhoek (pop. 300,000), located in the centre of the country.

Namibia is a large, sparsely populated country of just over 2 million inhabitants comprising 12 ethnic groups. The national language is English, although Afrikaans is widely spoken along with local dialects. Most of the country is arid/semi-arid and high plateau. The entire western coastline constitutes the Namib Desert. Namibia does not have any annual rivers except for the Kunene and Kavango rivers that form the northern border with Angola, and the Orange River that forms the southern border with South Africa.

The main economic sectors are agriculture, mining, fishing and tourism. Natural resources include diamonds, copper, uranium, gold, silver, lead, tin, lithium, cadmium, tungsten, zinc, salt, hydropower and fish, with suspected deposits of oil, coal and iron ore.

South Africa occupied South-West Africa during World War I and administered it under a League of Nations mandate until after World War II, when it annexed the territory. In 1966 the South-West Africa People's Organization (SWAPO) launched a low-level bush war for self-rule, but it was not until 1988 that South Africa agreed to end its administration in accordance with a UN peace plan for the entire region. Namibia achieved independence in 1990, and SWAPO has governed the country ever since. Sam Nujoma was the country’s first president; current president is Hifikepunye Pohamba.

Economic climate

Namibia markets itself as a cosmopolitan country boasting a relatively stable government, an attractive foreign investment environment and a good communications and transportation network. At the same time, the country faces low economic growth, high unemployment, abject poverty and skewed income inequality.

Namibia's per capita income of about USD 2,000 is almost four times the average for Sub-Saharan Africa. It’s economic growth depends on external influences ranging from unfavorable climatic and marine conditions to international and regional fluctuations. Such influences adversely affect the production and export of primary sector minerals (diamonds, uranium, copper, zinc) and manufactured produce (beef, fish, textiles, etc). Namibia tries to address this problem by expanding production activities in areas less vulnerable to some of the external influences. Manufacturing and provision of services now play a more prominent role, but not significantly more than at the time of independence. In terms of revenue, mining is the biggest contributor to Namibia's economy, accounting for 25 percent of the country's income.

With the advent of globalization, Namibia is considering niche strategies for future economic expansion. This involves identifying products and services that will be essential for increased economic growth and development. Namibia is considering agro-business processing of agricultural produce (grapes, dates, cotton, spaghetti, etc.) as key products in order to ensure broad-based agricultural modernization. The government is attempting to diversify the economy from a mainly South African manufactured goods import and primary export commodity- dependent economy to an expanded manufacturing base and modernized agricultural sector-led economy.