03 Apr 2014

Minister of Finance and Development Planning, Mr Kenneth Matambo has commended the Chinese government for continuing to offer assistance to Botswana although it has attained a middle income status.

Botswana and China have signed a RMB 50 million (about P70 million) grant aid agreement on Economic and Technical Cooperation. Minister Matambo signed on behalf of the government while China was represented by Ambassador Zheng Zhuqiang.

Speaking at the signing ceremony on April 2, Mr Matambo said a number of international donors left Botswana but others such as China remained to offer financial and technical assistance.

“The Chinese government has not only supported us with financial grants, but also provided technical support, contributed to capacity building of our government officials through different human resource development instruments,” he said.

For his part, Mr Zheng said his country was one of Botswana’s strongest development partners. “We have provided many batches of economic and technical assistance to Botswana for the past years in the form of grant, interest-free loan and concessional loan,” he said.

He said the assistance had been used to renovate and upgrade railways, to construct roads, build residential houses and primary schools. “Those projects have contributed to the economic and social development of Botswana,” he said.

The P70 million grant would be used to improve the lives of Batswana and accelerate public service from the actual needs of the Botswana government. Mr Zheng said Botswana would make proposals to the embassy in areas such as agriculture, water resources, education and environmental protection. ENDS