President Hifikepunye Pohamba of the Republic of Namibia arrived in China's southernmost province of Hainan Friday morning, kicking off his first state visit to China.

This is his first visit to China since he assumed presidency in March this year.

Pohamba's entourage included his wife Penehupifo Pohamba, Marco Hausiku, Namibian Foreign Minister and Pendukeni Iivula-Ithana, Minister of Justice and Attorney General.

Pohamba made the visit at the invitation of Chinese President Hu Jintao. Haikou, a tropical tourism resort and capital city of Hainan, is his first leg of the tour

The Namibian president will also visit Beijing where he will hold talks or courtesy meetings with Chinese leaders.

Namibia lies in the southwest of Africa, on the east of Atlantic, with an area of 824,269 square km. The nation became independent on March 21st, 1990. It established diplomatic relations with the People's Republic of China on the next day. Bilateral relations have been developing smoothly.

Pohamba was elected president in the November of 2004, and was inaugurated in the March of 2005. He is the second president of the Republic of Namibia. He headed a delegation of the South West Africa People's Organization to visit China in April 1998.

Source: Xinhua