18 Apr 2018

The 25^th Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) has important agenda issues that will be discussed, but the Botswana delegation is in London to reaffirm its commitment to the Commonwealth family.

Speaking to BOPA in an interview, Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Mr Vincent Seretse said Botswana travelled to London to reiterate her stance of being fully committed to addressing global challenges and creating a better future for all.

“What is of interest to us is that we have a theme that speaks to our country, ‘Towards a Common future’. 

As a member state, we would like to see all the member states moving in the same direction in terms of developments. 

The democratic principles of respective countries must be followed and therefore we must talk about a fairer future where in this regard we want to strengthen such principles and institutions,” he said.

Minister Seretse said in order to realise a prosperous future, there should be a need to encourage inter-trade to make sure there was supply of goods and services among member states and grow respective economies.

“We are also looking at sustainable developments.  As a member of the Commonwealth, we come from respective regions, for instance the Caribbean where hurricanes occur and destroy infrastructure. As the Commonwealth, how are we prepared to help in such calamities for member states to regain their stand? 

We also realised that at international level, cyber security is a challenge. Cyber crime is becoming very evasive and as member states we want to look at ways of assisting one another,” he added.

Quizzed on whether Botswana was vocal at a fora such as CHOGM, Mr Seretse said the country’s strong steeped democratic practices based on the kgotla system allowed them to raise their voice and make sure that when it came to issues of governance, they were given audience.

He said there was a number of projects going on and Botswana was making interventions with regard to illicit poaching that was being done on wildlife.

“Our wildlife is an assert that we have to protect because tourism plays a critical role in our economy.  Therefore, Commonwealth thought that measures that are put in place back home could be copied by other members to protect their own species,” he said.

Mr Seretse noted that President Mokgweetsi Masisi would play a pivotal role by making presentations at different fora where he would articulate Botswana’s position. 

“We are clear to what is our role in the Commonwealth. We bring our experience, we bring our challenges and how we wish to see the Commonwealth assist us in the process. 

Our interests as member states vary and at this point in time our interest are skewed towards technological advancement of our country, health promotion and all other spheres in driving our economy,” he added.

On what impact the prospective withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union (Brexit) would have on Botswana, Mr Seretse said the European Partnership Agreement that Botswana signed explained that as British exit the EU the fundamentals that were contained in the agreement shall subsist and continue forward.

“We don’t see any problem when they get out, if anything, that forms a basis and going forward we might see some improvements. 

We are already a trading partner with the UK, if you consider that our beef comes directly to the UK and only a small portion goes beyond the borders of the UK,” he said.

Mr Seretse is accompanying President Masisi to London for the meeting. ENDS