14 Mar 2024

Ministry of Foreign Affairs will continue working more pertaining to following up on increasing leads to grow the economy, seeking opportunities for Batswana, and positioning Botswana as a respected and influential player in global affairs.

This was said Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dr Lemogang Kwape when presenting the ministry’s budget proposals for 2024/25 in Parliament on Wednesday.

To this end, Dr Kwape said the ministry would be guided in the undertaking by the three strategic objectives within its purview such as improving global engagements, increasing Foreign Direct Investment and increasing the Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Exhibitions.

Also, he said the ministry continued to invest in efforts to strengthen cultural, social, political, and economic ties with Botswana diaspora.

Dr Kwape said the ministry was currently developing a comprehensive Diaspora Engagement Policy in order to strengthen dialogue and opportunities for Batswana in the diaspora, through collaboration, partnership and community-development.

Furthermore, he said the ministry, with the support of International Organisation for Migration, undertook a Diaspora Mapping Exercise to generate the much-needed data on the number of Batswana living abroad.

The exercise, he said, aimed to provide a database of Batswana’s occupational knowledge, skills, aspirations and experiences living outside Botswana.

“The global Botswana diaspora is a source of strength to our growth and prosperity, and I wish to encourage them to participate in this exercise and engage in the country’s development agenda. This must become a great international effort, and it will demand a new spirit of collaboration between the government of Botswana and the Botswana Diaspora,” he said.

Dr Kwape also affirmed that the ministry remained resolute in telling the success stories of Botswana and popularising her foreign policy objectives to ensure that the country’s image and reputation remained of high ranking.

He said during the financial year under review, the ministry was instrumental in promoting Botswana’s image abroad as a respected and influential player on the bilateral, regional and global platforms.

In this respect, he said, emphasis was on Botswana’s positive image and reputation as a country that was committed to democratic values, rule of law, respect for human rights, multilateralism and sustainable development that left no one behind.

Crucially, the minister said, some outreach activities were achieved to market Botswana as a key destination of choice for tourism, international meetings, foreign direct investment, as well as a place of opportunities, peace and prosperity.

Of particular note, he said, during the year under review, the ministry promoted the first Europe Botswana Business Forum (EBBF), which was hosted on the margins of the Global Expo Botswana in October 2023, an initiative that aimed at promoting investment and creating partnerships between the business communities.

“The ministry also facilitated the Facets 2023 Conference initiated by the Botswana Embassy in Brussels and the Antwerp World Diamond Centre (AWDC) in 2022.”

The conference, Dr Kwape said, presented a platform for dialogue between governments, miners, midstream traders and retailers in the diamond industry to play a pivotal role in fostering sustainable economic growth and prosperity.

He said Botswana’s participation at the high level international meetings was used to tell Botswana’s story of using diamonds for development.

To this end, he said, Botswana had realised a significant milestone as she hosts the Kimberley Process Secretariat and continued to hold some of the key leadership roles in various global structures such as, the country’s continued role of Chair of Landlocked and Least Developing countries among others.

Dr Kwape also apprised Parliament that in the previous budget, the ministry managed to carryout ongoing construction and refurbishment of the ministry properties in Botswana and across the various missions abroad at an initial cost of over P215.5million with an additional funding provided to facilitate purchase of Chancery building in Japan.

“Permission to purchase the property has since been granted by the Japanese government and procurement will be closed before the end of this financial year,” he said. Parliament also learnt that the Addis Ababa, Ethiopia project was complete and handed over and it was under defects liability Period.

Dr Kwape said procurement of furniture and equipment for the building, including ICT equipment was in progress.

For the financial year 2024/2025, he proposed the sum of P855.5million. Out of this total amount, P767. 87 million is for recurrent expenditure, while P87. 6 million is for development expenditure. ENDS