14 Jul 2022

 The German government has donated a P1 million Global Navigation Satellite System  to Botswana.

Handing over the equipment to the Ministry of Lands and Water Affairs in Gaborone Wednesday, German ambassador, Ms Margit Hellwig-Botte said the machine provided positioning, navigation and timing and came with complementary training on its operation.

 She said the state of the art machine would be used at Botswana’s borders with the hope that it would assist with border controls within the SADC region.

“Border disputes will soon be prevented and cooperation with your partners in neighbouring countries will be facilitated,” said Ambassador Hellwig-Botte.

She pointed out that the African Union had come up with a border governance programme to establish  a solid basis for   the continent’s  integration.

Ambassador Hellwig-Botte expressed happiness that Botswana was among 28 countries that had started implementing the programme.

“We are very happy about the strong partnership forged with the AU commission on peace and security in general and on border issues in particular,” she said.

For his part, the ministry’s deputy permanent secretary Mr Kealeboga Kemoreile thanked the German government for the high precision equipment.

“The use of this equipment will go a long way in ensuring peaceful co-existence between Botswana and its neighbours. I am therefore gratified by this gesture,” he said.

Mr Kemoreile said Botswana had made progress on border reaffirmation with neighbouring countries thanks to the support German aid agency, GIZ, rendered to Botswana.

GIZ cooperation on international boundary reaffirmation started a long way back, he stated.

Mr said some of Botswana’s achievements over the years, such as reaffirmation of river boundaries, were attributable to GIZ’s assistance. BOPA