10 Dec 2013

The Minister of Education and Skills Development, Dr Pelonomi Venson-Moitoi, has paid tribute to Japan for its commitment to helping other countries uplift the living standards of their people.

Speaking during Japan’s National Day celebrations recently, Dr Venson-Moitoi said despite difficult times in the past, such as the east Japan earthquake and tragic tsunami, Japan‘s commitment to assist developing countries remained unshakable. The minister said this was evidenced by the pledge the government of Japan made at the recent  TICAD summit in Yokohama that saw a large number of African heads of states and government in attendance, including President Lt Gen. Seretse Khama Ian Khama.

She said Botswana has over the years received generous development assistance from Japan.

“One of the highlights is our cooperation in Education Television Broadcasting Corporation following the signing of a memorandum of understanding with Japan Broadcasting Corporation in 2008,” she said.

Dr Venson-Moitoi noted that projects such as the Kazungula Bridge are progressing well and that the project’s joint steering committee and technical committee have been established and that they meet regularly to discuss progress of the project. The Kazungula bridge implementation team from Botswana visited Japan in 2013 for training as provided for under the technical assistance extended by Japan International Cooperation Agency, she said.

The training, she added, is expected to help the team to efficiently and effectively implement the bridge project. Dr Venson- Moitoi said even though Botswana is classified as an upper-middle income state, the country is still facing numerous developmental challenges, particularly in the areas of infrastructure development.

“Our capacity to finance major infrastructural projects from our own resources is limited by competing and anticipated national priorities such as HIV/AIDS.

The minister said, “the infrastructures that we need, will not only unlock opportunities that will help us eradicate poverty, but will propel us to higher levels of development which is shared aspiration of the people of Botswana and Japan.” For his part, the Ambassador of Japan to Botswana, Mr Hiroyasu Kobayashi said the bilateral relationship between the two countries cannot simply be government led alone, but must have strong private sector back-up.

He said it was meaningful that the Minister of Trade and Industry, Ms Dorcas Makgato-Malesu and representatives of private companies of Botswana remained in Japan for several days holding meetings with Japanese companies.”The Ambassador said starting from next year; the government of Japan would begin to dispatch experts to Botswana to transfer technology in the areas of digital migration as well as broadcasting content production.

“With the cooperation of the government of Botswana, Japan also intends to undertake a pilot project for e-education and e-government using data broadcasting,” he said. He said the government of Japan would endeavour to ensure a smooth transfer to digital broadcasting in Botswana. ENDS