16 Jan 2014

The Minister of Transport and Communications, Mr Nonofo Molefhi is hopeful that the Japanese communications minister’s visit to Botswana will bring profound economic growth and prospects for Botswana.

Welcoming Japan’s Minister of Internal Affairs and Communications, Mr Yoshitaka Shindo and his delegation at the ministry headquarters  on January 16, he said Botswana should continue to be assisted in order to expand and diversify its economy and develop new opportunities.

He said Botswana and Japan would continue to find new ways of collaborating and working together to strengthen the existing bilateral relations. Minister Molefhi met with his Japanese counterpart to discuss the way forward after government  adopted the Integrated Services Digital Broadcasting – Terrestrial (ISDB-T) as its Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) standard.

He said as Botswana neared the switchover target of 2015, it was important to actively engage with the Japanese to draw the schedule of what ought to be done to achieve smooth switchover from analogue to digital migration.

He said the expansion of television services through digital migration would inevitably open up new and exciting economic opportunities for Batswana and they will enjoy such services that would transform them into an E-society.

Mr Molefhi further thanked the Japanese government for their financial assistance and support towards construction of the Kazungula Bridge.

For his part, Mr Shindo reiterated Japan’s commitment to enhancing its bilateral relationship with Botswana especially after lately adopting the Japanese ISDB-T.

“My country is committed to support Botswana in its migration to the ISDB-T standard and this will further open up more opportunities for the two countries. I needed to come here to have a feel of how Batswana were living and to see the image of the country,” he said.

Japan would provide additional support projects to Botswana through establishment and piloting of early warning broadcasting system that will aid in potential disaster relief efforts and training of human resource to Botswana’s Project Management Office for the implementation of digital migration.

The ISDB-T system was originally developed in Japan and has since been adopted by a growing number of countries around the world including most of South America. ENDS