Month: June 2024

WINDHOEK: The Namibia Tourism Board (NTB) has denied spending N.dollars 60 000 on costumes for the President, First Lady, and Vice President, attending the Etotha Carnival.

This comes after claims circulated on social media and in local newspapers that NTB intended to spend N.dollars 60 000 on costumes for the politicians attending.

The Etotha Carnival Festival is scheduled from 27 June to 01 July at the Kangonde Salt Pan in the Oshikoto Region.

In an interview with Nampa on Thursday, NTB CEO Bonnie Mbidzo stated that the amount spent on advertising for this event is within the company’s budget and is not an uncommon spend.

‘Therefore, NTB planned to participate in this noble initiative. The Namibia Tourism Board only spends what is budgeted for, and any claims suggesting otherwise are misleading and inaccurate,’ he said.

Mbidzo stated that the carnival is organised in collaboration with several entities, including the Ministry of Environment and the Ondonga Traditional Authority, and that its primary ro
le is to oversee the carnival’s marketing efforts, ensuring its visibility and promotion both locally and internationally.

‘The Namibia Tourism Board has sponsored several high-profile delegates and government officials. NTB as a marketing arm of Government has over the past given corporate gifts for visiting journalists on familiarisation trips and at international trade fairs and road shows, NTB has been giving these hats and jackets on numerous occasions,’ he said.

He also stated that NTB understands the worries about the reported increase of its projects and would want to emphasise that its budget is carefully monitored to guarantee prudent spending.

He said funding for these expenditures is allocated from NTB’s existing budget, which has been changed to reflect new priorities.

‘As always, we remain committed to maximising the impact of our limited resources and will continue to prioritise strategic investments that drive long-term growth and development in the tourism sector,’ Mbidzo stated.

He emph
asised the Etotha Carnival’s significance as an important event in Namibia’s tourism calendar, noting that it demonstrated the festival’s collaborative nature, which strives to enhance tourism, bringing economic advantages to the region.

NTB’s marketing initiatives are intended to attract tourists, raise awareness, and promote local companies, he stated.

Source: The Namibia Press Agency

OPUWO: The recurring drought which has ravaged livestock and crippled livelihoods in the Kunene region is now impeding the voter registration process in some sections of the region as farmers are forced to relocate in quest of greener pastures.

According to Mike Nganjone, the Electoral Commission of Namibia (ECN) regional elections officer in Kunene, drought is also posing unprecedented hurdles to the voter registration procedure, with a large number of farmers unable to register for the presidential and national assembly elections set for 27 November 2024.

‘As we know the region is still reeling in drought and most of the people here are farmers. They are nomadic so most of the time they move around in search of grazing for their animals,’ he said in a recent interview with Nampa.

The movement of farmers in Sesfontein, Epupa, and Opuwo Rural necessitates the deployment of a team to mobilise people, inform them of the registration dates, and advise them not to leave the area until they are registered.

‘In
most cases, we first send out a team to mobilise people, inform them of the registration date, and just caution them not to leave the area before they are registered,’ he noted.

Kunene is one of the country’s vastest regions, thus rendering it difficult for ECN to reach specific parts of it by road or vehicle, a challenge that has necessitated the use of a helicopter to ferry ECN officials to difficult-to-reach locations.

According to Nganjone, the team left for the hard-to-reach areas on 12 June and will return to Opuwo on 26 July to attend to voters in the villages of Skeleton Coast Safaris, Sierra Cafema, Otjavaja, Okakora, Otjomumborombonga, Otjiheke Tjangututu, Onjezu, Ehekeratjitindi, Otjahawe, Oroviheke, and Orokaue.

Among other obstacles, Nganjone highlighted that certain individuals arrive with erroneous documents, such as old voter cards, believing that they will be able to obtain new ones by using the old ones.

He said the region has 31 teams separated into two zones: Kunene North, which compri
ses Opuwo Urban, Opuwo Rural, Epupa, and Sesfontein, and Kunene South, which includes Kamanjab, Khorixas and Outjo, with a total of 104 registration officers.

Despite the multiple hurdles, Nganjone stated that voter registration is faring well, with over 20,000 persons registered since 03 June 2024 in the region.

Source: The Namibia Press Agency

Bionic robots that speak both Chinese and English can have the same skin and nails as humans? A flying car powered solely by wind can have a maximum payload of 160 kg? A smart wheelchair can control its operation with just the ‘mind’? Kevin and Daria, two foreign bloggers, have experienced during the World Intelligence Expo held in Tianjin how the artificial intelligence can empower people’s future lives in industries such as technology, trade, logistics and cultural tourism.

With the theme of ‘Intelligent Travel Empowering Future’, the Expo integrates exhibitions, experiences and events, attracting more than 550 exhibitors and institutions from all over the world, including more than 70 well-known enterprises such as Huawei, Alibaba, Baidu and Danfoss, and 57 universities and research institutions such as Peking University, Tsinghua University, Nankai University and Tianjin University. The Expo set up 10 major themes such as artificial intelligence, intelligent networked vehicles, intelligent manufacturing
and robots, covering the frontier hot spots of the intelligent industry. A number of cutting-edge new technologies, new products, and new experiences from all over the world were showcased centrally, reminding people that technology will completely change the lifestyles in the future.

At the exhibition site, various intelligent robot products such as humanoid robots, bionic robots, and intelligent robot dogs interact with the audience on the spot. They are no longer fantasies in science fiction or movies, but play an important role in monitoring, rescue, cultural tourism and other fields. In the low-altitude economic exhibition area, a number of drones, flying vehicles, and aerospace technology companies collectively display advanced technology products. A low-altitude aircraft shaped like a helicopter brought by the German company Tensor can independently complete cargo transportation, takeoff and landing according to pre-set routes according to the instructions. Robotic arms incorporating technologies such
as 5G, IoT, edge computing, rocker robotics, and artificial intelligence can shoot high-frame-rate video and support autofocus, achieving effects that cannot be achieved in traditional shooting modes. Viewers can also have more novel experiences with the help of smart technology.

The Expo also hosted three major events such as the Asia-Pacific Robotics World Cup Tianjin International Invitational, the World Intelligent Driving Challenge, and the International Intelligent Sports Conference. A number of technological achievements and innovative applications were demonstrated in the competitions. For exhibiting companies, this Expo is also an opportunity to further promote the transformation of enterprises to information technology and digitalization, and will also bring huge business opportunities.

Contact: Guo Ran

Phone: 008610-68332663

Email: [email protected]

Source: News Agency of Nigeria
Source: News Agency of Nigeria