16 Mar 2015

Envoys from Senegal and Qatar presented their letters of credence to President Lt Gen. Seretse Khama Ian Khama on Monday (March 16).

After presenting credentials, Dr Momar Diop of Senegal said his country could learn a lot from Botswana in areas of mining, tourism and agriculture.

Dr Diop said they wished to explore cooperation with Botswana in higher education, trade and agriculture. He indicated that his country had a target to achieve self-sufficiency in rice production, which at the moment was inadequate; hence investing in agriculture might assist Senegal.

“The Senegalese eat rice every day, but we cannot produce even half of the rice we eat. We have a voluntary programme by the president that by 2017, we should achieve self-sufficiency in rice production,” he said.

Again, he said, they intended to foster cooperation with Botswana in trade and thus their discussion with President Khama to look into importing elephants from Botswana to Senegal owing to the latter’s low’ population of elephants.

On other issues, the Senegalese said Africa was blessed and proud of Botswana as it continued to be a beacon of democracy and a source of inspiration for many countries. On one hand, the Qatar envoy, Mr Salem Abdulla Al-Jaber said they had discussed with President Khama about future investment opportunities between the two countries.

Mr Al-Jaber said his country was considering exploring relations in transport industry as Qatar Airlines would soon include Cape Town in its routes and possibly Gaborone.

Furthermore, he said their discussions with President Khama also looked into possibilities of visa exemption for citizens of the two countries to further facilitate bilateral interactions. With Qatar as the importer of meat, Mr Al-Jaber said Botswana could use the opportunity to export meat to his country. The two envoys would be based in Pretoria, South Africa. ENDS