02 Dec 2015

President Lt Gen. Seretse Khama Ian Khama arrived home on Tuesday (December 2) after attending the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) and the 21^st session of the Conference of the Parties (COP21) Climate Change Summit in Malta and France respectively.

President Khama was in Malta for four days where he attended several sessions of CHOGM, amongst them co-chairing an anti-corruption seminar with British Prime Minister, Mr David Cameron.                                                          

Whilst in Malta, President Khama was also part of a closed session for the elections of the sixth Commonwealth secretary general which was conducted through a secret ballot where only heads of state or their ministerial representatives voted. 

Ms Mmasekgoa Masire-Mwamba lost the race to Ms Patricia Scotland of Dominica last week. 

In Paris, the President presented the Gaborone Declaration for Sustainability in Africa (GDSA) and reaffirmed Botswana’s commitment to implementing all conventions and declarations promoting sustainable development.                                                                                                                                    

He also told delegates that countries in Africa, in responding to climate change and commiting to ensuring sustainability of natural endowments, have adopted the GDSA initiative which emanated in 2012 from the first ever summit for sustainability in Africa held in Gaborone.

President Khama told the summit that the Southern African Development Community (SADC) recently adopted the principles of the GDSA and appealed to other developing countries to endorse and sign the agreement for the greater good.

He hoped that the 2015 Paris agreement would be premised on the recognition of the development needs and poverty eradication priorities of developing countries, whilst emphasising the necessary leadership of developed countries in climate action. Ends