03 Aug 2021

President Dr Mokgweetsi Masisi has appealed to his US counterpart Joe Biden to assist Botswana with COVID 19 vaccines. 

President Masisi, who made the plea yesterday during his meeting with US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Ms Victoria Nuland, said the assistance could either be through sale of excess vaccines or in the form of a donation.

President Masisi expressed frustration with vaccine distribution which he said had resulted in loss of lives. 

He said Botswana had put many development projects on hold and channeled money towards the fight against COVID-19 which included payment for vaccines. 

Other issues discussed by the President and Ms Nuland, the first senior official in the Biden administration to visit the country, included the security situation in the SADC region, democracy in the world and relations between Botswana and the US.

Ms Nuland praised Botswana for being an example of democracy, leadership and stability in Africa and conveyed President Biden’s administration’s admiration of President Masisi’s leadership both domestically and regionally. 

She said the US government was amazingly impressed with what SADC was doing in Mozambique under President Masisi’s leadership of the SADC Organ on Politics, Defence and Security Cooperation. Ends