16 Feb 2015

Envoys from Belgium and Sierra Leone presented their letters of credence to President Lt Gen. Seretse Khama Ian Khama on Monday (February 16). 

Ambassador Hubert Cooreman said Belgium and Botswana had excellent relations and he was willing to develop them further.

He said the relationship with Botswana was based more on the economic side because Botswana produced high quality diamonds and Belgium remained the main trading centre for diamonds.

He said in 2006, the two countries signed MoU to cooperate on this resource and his country wished to renew the MoU to look at the market condition and other issues that concerned the diamond sector in the two countries.

Furthermore, Mr Cooreman said Botswana had a role to play in Africa, and Belgium as an old historical partner in Africa, would continue with its involvement in peace, stability and economic development.

“I discussed with President Khama the instability in Central African region and the situation in the DRC which is of utmost concern to us,” he said.

For his part,  Ambassador Osman Keh-Kamara said Sierra Leone and Botswana had historical ties that emanated from their colonial masters. He said Botswana provided support to his country to assist in the fight against the recent outbreak of Ebola.

Mr Keh-Kamara said the two countries had common bilateral ties in the diamond resource and his country wanted to learn about diamonds and opportunities in the industry that citizens could enjoy in his country.

“We have diamonds, but they are exported at raw stage, so I spoke to President Khama about possibilities of learning best practices to create employment for our people,” he said. 

He also said his country would like to share best practices in education in Botswana. Botswana, he added, had played a major role during the country’s post conflict reconstruction phase and also assisted in training police.

“Recently there was a conference on domestication of aggression of the International Criminal Court that Sierra Leones came to attend,” he said.

 Mr Keh-Kamara further said his country had intentions to open a consulate in Botswana to further strengthen the relations and identify areas of cooperation between the two countries. Ambassador Keh-Kamara is currently based in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. ENDS