19 Nov 2017

 Progress made on a wide range of bilateral agreements between Botswana and South Africa is impressive.

This sentiment was shared by President Lt Gen. Dr Seretse Khama Ian Khama and his South African counterpart Mr Jacob Zuma when officiating at the High Level Meeting of the 4^th Session of the Bi-National Commission of the two countries.

President Khama said what was of fundamental importance was the advancement of the bilateral agenda, which would enable the two nations to deliberate on commitments they have made on previous decisions.

He said there was need to explore other areas of cooperation and provide strategic direction, which would help in fostering socio-economic development.

President Khama said the fruitful cooperation between the two countries was demonstrated by the many agreements and memoranda of understanding concluded.

President Khama said nonetheless there were a few areas lagging behind and pleaded with all to bridge the gap.

For his part Mr Zuma said he was pleased to note that the BNC has expanded tremendously since its inception in areas such as education, health, science, justice and tourism amongst others.

“ We cannot over emphasise the importance of economic diversification and the Industrialisation strategy. One area that needs to be strengthened is cultural cooperation at government-to-government level as enshrined in our 2005 memorandum of understanding. We need to advance regional integration and address peace and security challenges,” he said.

Mr Zuma expressed satisfaction at the strong historical and cultural bonds that existed between the two nations.

In a joint communiqué read by Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Dr Pelonomi Venson-Moitoi the two Heads of State reaffirmed the importance of the BNC as a bilateral mechanism to provide strategic direction to the growing relations between the two countries, with the ultimate objective of fostering socioeconomic development of the two nations.

 “ To that end the two leaders expressed solidarity in pursuing common positions regarding some of the critical issues under discussion at the continental level. Ends