The Chinese ambassador to Namibia encouraged the South African country to promote its trade with China on Monday, when he attended Namibia's 20th independence anniversary ceremony held in Windhoek.

The first ambassador of the People's Republic of China's to Namibia Ji Peiding encouraged the Namibian businessmen to take full advantage of the existing sound diplomatic relations existing between the two countries to promote bilateral trade.

Ji was among various diplomats and leaders in Namibia as the country is marking its independence anniversary.

The ambassador was accompanied by the Second Chinese Ambassador to Namibia Liang Yinzhu as well as Chinese businessmen who were on an exploratory trip.

On Saturday the delegation paid a courtesy visit on Namibia's first President Sam Nujoma.

"Over the last 20 years the relationship (between the two countries) has gotten stronger," Ji said.

Nujoma said Namibian businessmen should make greater efforts to market and create greater publicity.

"We have not been proactive to introduce our products to China. We are not looking to China, which is a big market," said Nujoma.

Nujoma is expected to lead a big delegation of Namibian business people to China's Shanghai World Expo which opens in May.

"We want to take all our products, from fish, beef, the champagne from Omaruru, gems and semi precious stones. We want to charter Air Namibia and fill it up with Namibian products," Nujoma said.

The volume of trade between Namibia and China grew resulting in commerce between the two countries exceeding 550 million U.S. dollars in 2009.