20 Mar 2022

As a country whose development process has been largely impacted by the diamond trade, Botswana remains the most rational choice to host the Kimberly Process permanent secretariat, says President Dr Mokgweetsi Masisi.

He said this when receiving letters of credence from Sweden and Hungary envoys recently.

Welcoming the Hungarian envoy, Mr Attila Horváth, the President said European nations should support Botswana’s bid as a developing state that had heavily relied on the diamond trade.

Such support, he said,  would be consistent with the EU states’ own outlook and policy to render support to developing states.

 “We have a competitor, Austria a colleague member state of the European Union (EU), and similar to Article 5 of the EU, you express solidarity to one another. But I want to appeal to you to consider influencing Austria to let Botswana host the secretariat because diamonds mean to Botswana like no other country, in significance,” Dr Masisi said.

He urged Hungary to both support Botswana’s bid and actively engage other European states in order to influence them to do the same.

On a different issue, President Masisi said Botswana was keen to learn from Hungary which, despite being small and landlocked, had managed to be competitive in the economic sphere.

He said Botswana, also landlocked, looked to Hungary ‘with inspiration for the economic model it has adopted, doing extremely well in the automotive industry and pharmaceutical space and we look forward to broadening our partnership’.

Responding, Mr Horváth said Hungary was also keen on boosting bilateral relations with Botswana. 

He said his country was looking forward to hosting Botswana students from next year following the recent signing of an agreement between the two countries to that effect.

Presenting his credentials, Swedish ambassador Mr Hakan Juholt said as one of the world’s leaders in innovation, Sweden was prepared to assist Botswana in the area. 

He said the two countries could partner in Botswana’s efforts to take part in the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

In response, Dr Masisi welcomed the opportunity for the two countries to collaborate in the innovation space. 

The President revealed that he met with Swedish prime minister Ms Magdalena Andersson at last month’s European Union-African Union summit in Brussels, Belgium.He lauded Sweden for extending assistance to Botswana during its nascent years of development and later through Swedish companies’ investments in the country. ends