29 Jul 2018

President Mokgweetsi Masisi returned from Johannesburg, South Africa on July 27 after attending the BRICS Africa outreach dialogue forum at the invitation of South Africa President Cyril Ramaphosa.

In an interview upon their arrival, Minister of International Affairs and Cooperation, Dr Unity Dow said the BRICS bloc comprised of emerging economies such as Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, which seemingly faced the same trade and socio economic challenges such as unemployment and poverty, which needed to be addressed strategically.

Thus, she said, organisations such as the African Union and neighbouring countries were also invited to exchange notes and come up with ways of collaborating around the fourth industrial revolution.

Dr Dow noted that Botswana was invited for the first time and would benefit from the BRICS outreach partnership, which was a channel of inclusion for key partners across the African continent.

She said given the diversity of economies that make up the political bloc and how they spun the global trade dynamics, Botswana stands to benefit from the mutual cooperation of the countries.

Dr Dow further posited that countries such as China, Brazil and South Africa had economies that were fast growing hence Botswana could learn a lot from the collaborations.

Further, the minister said cooperating with such bodies would address socio economic challenges, youth unemployment, uphold multilateral trade, as well as the education sector.

Moreover, she stated that trade relations with BRICS countries and various international bodies ensured that Botswana paved its position in the global order.

The new development, she said, would ensure that the African continent forged forward in terms of intra-trade relations and support principles of liberal multilateral trading arrangements.

Dr Dow further said weaving together Africa’s domestic interests and priorities and collaborating in the BRICS international space was fundamental as it would provide additional and different capabilities to governance structures, fortify the political space and add more economic value.

According to the BRICS Johannesburg South Africa 2018, one of the projects of the bloc included creating a New Development Bank to address common challenges.

So far, the bank initiated funding to the value of US $3.4 billion at the end of 2017 to member countries.

Moreover, BRICS had also created the contingency reserve arrangement which was aimed at ensuring liquidity for member states when they were confronted by short term balance of payment. ENDS