27 Sep 2015

Vice President, Mr Mokgweetsi Masisi has called on global leaders to do everything possible to ensure the development of mankind. 

Speaking at the UN Summit on the adoption of the Post - 2015 Development Agenda in New York on Friday September 25, Mr Masisi said the 17 Sustainable Development Goals and the 169 Targets of the Post 2015 Sustainable Development Agenda were inherently imbued with potential to significantly and irrevocably alter the course of human development, charting a new era of sustained prosperity for all.

He said it was, therefore, imperative that the international community should make every effort to garner the necessary political will and resources to ensure successful implementation of this new, universal sustainable development framework which promised a life of dignity for all.

Mr Masisi said in broad terms, the agenda resonated with Botswana’s national development agenda as enshrined in the National Development Plan 11, National Vision 2030 and Excellence Strategy for Economic Diversification, as well as with many values that Botswana espoused.

He said inclusive governance, democracy, respect for human rights and the rule of law should fundamentally form the bedrock for members’ sustainable development efforts and continue to be inspired by steadfast commitment to the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights and inherent dignity, equal and inalienable right of all members of the human family it proclaimed.

He said Botswana was firm in her conviction for the need to end abject poverty and hunger, to remove systematic barriers to development, including inequalities and discrimination, lack of decent jobs, inadequate access to social services and economic opportunities.

The Vice President added,  “We have reached universal access to education and almost closed the disparity between girls and boys in schools,” noted Mr Masisi. Further, he said health services were practically free and brought within an 8km radius of each community across the country while HIV anti-retroviral drugs were provided freely for all Batswana and transmission of the virus from mother to child was almost at zero.

In addition, focused interventions for youth employment and income-generating opportunities have resulted in improved quality of life of citizens, said Mr Masisi.He said one notable area of success worthy of singular mention was the national flagship programme for the complete eradication of poverty. 

Through deliberate actions of the strategy, he said, evidence was beginning to show that steady progress was being made. Mr Masisi said interestingly, evidence also showed that women were greater beneficiaries of the programme and achieved significantly better results that actually transformed their livelihood and that of their families.

He said that was a patent reminder of the role women could play in national development, when given opportunity. In that connection, Botswana government continued to be firmly committed to gender equality and empowerment of women and girls, as well as elimination of all forms of discrimination against them. ENDS