25 Oct 2017

Out-going Japanese ambassador to Botswana, Mr Masahiro Onishi has been described as a workaholic who remained true to his word and devoted to serving members of the community in general.

Speaking at a farewell luncheon he hosted for the ambassador recently, Acting Minister of International Affairs and Cooperation, who is also the Minister for Presidential Affairs, Governance and Public Administration, Mr Eric Molale said Mr Onishi was a man who believed in achieving what he agreed upon.

He noted that ever since the Japanese envoy came into the country, they had been working together in a number of public projects such as the digital migration project, which was off the ground since Batswana now experience good and quality television pictures.

Minister Molale noted that Ambassador Onishi was also a source of inspiration when it came to the issue of human resource management and had helped in bringing in professionals to infuse knowledge to the rest of the public service.

He said at the moment Japan was helping with the review of salary structure because of its in-depth knowledge in human resource field.
 

Minister Molale said Mr Onishi did not only perform his diplomatic assignment, but was also keen in community development as he was dedicated to seeing improved lives of various communities and wanted to forge partnerships with Batswana.

He noted that people irrespective of creed, race and colour, there was only one aspiration to achieve, adding that the difference was how you approached it.

For his part, Ambassador Onishi noted that he had a memorable stay in the country and would be leaving for Japan today, where he would retire from civil service next month.

Mr Onishi arrived in the country on September 7, 2014 and said during his stay the relationship between Botswana and Japan had grown from strength to strength.

He said he was fortunate to have been an ambassador last year when Botswana celebrated its 50th anniversary as well as the golden jubilee of diplomatic relations between the two countries, a commemorative year, with celebration through events such as Japan Drum Concert, the Japanese traditional art exhibition and the Embassy’s Golden Jubilee Reception, among others.

The outgoing envoy appreciated the cooperation of the two countries in the international arena and extended his appreciation to Botswana for the strong message that was expressed at the UN General Assembly and other occasions regarding the North Korea issue.

 Furthermore, Mr Onishi said since Botswana was ranked as an upper-middle class income country, the assistance that came from Japan was basically through technical assistance such as the digital migration project and grassroots assistance such as the construction of pre-school facilities.

He said it was his hope that the projects would contribute greatly to the development of Botswana and that the grassroots grant assistance towards the field of education and sport would accelerate the development of youth who were the ones that supported the future of the country. ENDS