21 Aug 2022

Representatives from government of Botswana and Japan on Thursday met for the Botswana-Japan Policy Dialogue to shape the two countries’ bilateral relations.

During the dialogue, the two nations reviewed the state of their relations and explored new ways to enhance development cooperation.

Co-chair of the meeting and acting deputy permanent secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Nkoloi Nkoloi said the dialogue came at an opportune time as the current development cooperation policy was coming to an end.

“It gives us the opportunity to take stock of our achievements and challenges and use the information as a base for the new policy,” Ambassador Nkoloi said.

He said the draft policy takes into account President Dr Mokgweetsi Masisi’s Reset and Transformation agenda meant to transform the country from a  resource to knowledge-based economy.

 Mr Nkoloi observed that Japan had been supporting Botswana in human resource development, adding that the country had received short-term and long-term training to enhance efficiency in the public and private sectors.

 Further, he said Japan had been instrumental in strengthening public health globally and noted that Botswana had benefited through the COVAX facility and grants for procurement of medical equipment.

In addition, he said Botswana was happy that Japan continued to help the country through grants, saying recently the country received a grant for procurement of agricultural machinery and implements to assist in achieving food security vision.

Also, he declared the country’s  happiness with the near completion of the digital migration project,  whose benefits he said Botswana would soon reap.

Mr Nkoloi further said diversifying the economy from the mineral sector remained a challenge and the country was hopeful to come up with breakthrough projects that would propel the economy to a higher level.

He said Botswana counted on Japan to continue with positive disposition in such areas as eco-tourism promotion in dry lands, capacity-building on e-government, waste management, landfill construction and accelerating the elimination of neglected tropical diseases.

For his part, Ambassador Takashi Hoshinyama of Japan said his country would continue to explore and discuss areas of cooperation with Botswana.

He said Japan supported Botswana’s development cooperation policy in its priority sectors, which included agriculture and manufacturing.

The Botswana-Japan Policy Dialogue also offered stakeholders an opportunity to exchange notes ahead of the 8^th Tokyo International Conference on Africa Development scheduled for Tunis, Tunisia from Saturday and Sunday. ends