09 Oct 2017

The Minister of International Affairs and Cooperation, Dr Pelonomi Venson-Moitoi will today host her Ethiopian counterpart, Hirut Zemene Kassa, the State Minister of Political Affairs in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, for the Inaugural Session of the Botswana/Ethiopia Joint Ministerial Commission (JMC) in Gaborone today.

A press release from the Ministry states that the Ethiopian delegation will include the minister of culture and tourism and the minister of livestock and fisheries as well as senior officials from various ministries.

Botswana and Ethiopia signed a General Framework Agreement on cooperation in 2012 which provides a platform to explore and promote bilateral cooperation between the two countries.

According to the release, the JMC was subsequently established on July 2, 2017 with a view to further deepen and broaden the scope of bilateral cooperation between the two countries. It states that the Joint Ministerial Commission will deliberate on a wide range of issues ranging from security, stability and governance, economic and infrastructure development, social and cultural cooperation among others and the JMC was preceded by the meeting of senior officials held yesterday.

It is expected that the convening of this bilateral mechanism will afford the two countries an opportunity to further enhance cooperation in the critical sectors of the economy, states the release.ENDS