18 Aug 2019

Botswana may soon be blessed with the establishment of a programme on commercial agriculture.

That is if the envisaged visit by the delegation from Denish School of Agriculture next month finds ‘fertile ground’ for the programme.

The information was revealed in an interview with new Denmark Ambassador to Botswana, Mr Tobias Rehfeld in an interview after he and three other envoys presented letters of credence to President Dr Mokgweetsi Masisi at the Office of the President on Friday.

“Next month we will have the Denish School of Agriculture coming to see if they can start the programme of commercial agriculture in Botswana. We have been close friends for many years, which makes my duty as an ambassador simple,” he said.

 He further said there was a need to strengthen bilateral relations on trade and skills exchange in agricultural technologies.

Mr Rehfeld  said small democracies such as Denmark and Botswana should stick together because they shared similar values of human rights and rule of law.

He said Denmark and Botswana worked closely at multilateral fields and international organisations such as the United Nations

Other representatives that presented letters of credence were Jamaica’s High Commissioner to Botswana, Ms Angela Comfort, Ambassadors of Burkina Faso, Mr Oumarou Maiga, and Liberia’s Ms Ethel Davies. 

The trio also pledged to strengthen their countries’ bilateral ties with Botswana.

Ms Comfort promised to advance the excellent relations that already existed between Jamaica and Botswana.

“We discussed a broad range of bilateral issues we are working on. The two countries have had a strong relationship over the years,” she said.

She said Botswana and Jamaica were active members of the Commonwealth, middle income countries, and interfaced on a wider level within the context of Africa Caribbean Pacific relationship with the European Union.

They also cooperate at a high level in sports, education, agriculture, culture and arts.

“The President is keen on enhancing cooperation in sports development. We want to engage in exchange visits for our athletes,” she said.

Ms Comfort noted that Botswana was well versed in natural resource management, especially mining and this could benefit Jamaica.

As for Burkina Faso, the country started relations with Botswana in 2007 and the two will be exploring new areas of cooperation in mining.

Mr Maiga said the two landlocked countries had similarities in culture and tourism.

Liberia’s Ms Davies said that she would work on partnerships signed during the previous administration.

She said Botswana had assisted Liberia students with scholarships and that they had had police officers attending training at Botswana Police Academy in Otse. ENDS