22 May 2017

The Ministry of International Affairs and Cooperation (MIAC), whose mandate places them as the custodians of Botswana’s foreign policy, use their vantage point to build Botswana’s developmental agenda.

This was revealed by MIAC permanent secretary, Mr Gaonelwe Goitsemang in an interview with BOPA.  He said his ministry worked to establish regional, continental and global partnerships which benefiedt Botswana’s development.

“We work with various stakeholders including the Botswana Investment and Trade Centre (BITC) and organise trade missions to other countries.  

We have had instances where the local business community have toured other parts of the world and explored areas of potential cooperation with the business community of those other countries.  
Foreign investors are also sensitised about existing opportunities in Botswana,” Mr Goitsemang said.

He said they took advantage of high level visits such as the recent one by the president of Mozambique to promote trade links between Botswana and other states.

“We build friendly relations with countries who share with us the universal values of good governance, democracy and human rights.  We build and nurture relations which helps us gain international goodwill.  Once political diplomacy has laid the ground, we are then in a position to conduct economic diplomacy,” Mr Goitsemang said.

He further said that through the efforts of his ministry, Botswana had received technical assistance from other states in various fields including the health and education sectors.

“For example, we engage strategic partners to avail scholarships for Batswana to study abroad.  

The ministry also ensures that Batswana fill up quotas of employment with multilateral organisations such as the Southern African Development Community, African Union and the United Nations.

Such employment, as well as the inward investment the ministry facilitates assists in creating jobs for Batswana.

This is in line with the government’s five key priority areas, which encapsulate the government’s pledge to its citizens; making job creation a number one priority; the eradication of poverty; increasing education funding; the prevention of mother to child HIV transmission; as well as the rooting out of corruption. ENDS