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Boko extols Qatar

19 Jun 2025

 Botswana attaches great importance to the excellent bilateral relations that it has with Qatar, President Advocate Duma Boko has said.

When receiving  letters of  credence from Ambassador Designate of the State of Qatar, Mr Mubarak Bin Nasser Mubarak Al-Khalifa yesterday, President Boko said the two countries had a solid relationship that dated back to 2006 and had deepened ever since.

Botswana manages its diplomatic relations with Qatar through the Embassy in Kuwait, while Qatar covers Botswana through its Embassy in Pretoria.

President Boko stated that the bilateral cooperation between the two countries had been largely exploratory in nature, characterised by a number of exchange visits.

“Our relations with Qatar dates way back and I must note that former President Dr Mokgweetsi Masisi also visited Qatar in April 2019 and I think it is about time for another visit to take place sometime this year so as to continue cementing the relationships,” he said.

To  further nurture the relations, President Boko noted that Botswana also recently sent a high level delegation to Qatar to partake in a conference that offered a platform to strategically position Botswana's diamonds and minerals industry, with discussions on mineral beneficiation, economic diversification and broader trade and investment opportunities.

Botswana, he said, was looking to strengthen relations with Qatar since it had a lot to offer in various areas such as infrastructure development, agriculture, technological space and digitalisation.

“Qatar has advanced rapidly in a very short period of time and has a lot of lessons to share and very good experiences to impart. We look forward to enjoying such rich connections and deepening ties as well as strengthen economic cooperation,” he said.

The President said the two countries had concluded a few memorandums of understanding, adding that the mineral and diamond sector provided other possibilities to foster economic relations between the two countries.

President Boko indicated that there were a number of initiatives already underway, adding that some Qatari investors had already reached out with the intent to explore areas of investment.

He said Botswana was also keen to position itself as a regional aviation and logistics hub, an area in which Qatar was an expect.

“Botswana is also in the process of re-organising it’s air traffic and will be hoping for the reintroduction of the Qatar airlines route via Gaborone, which has the potential to increase the flow of traffic for both tourism and business relations," he said.

In addition,  President Boko said Qatar had emerged as a formidable player in the international space, particularly at the level of brokering peace amongst friends who turned foes.

“Qatar is now busy trying to build bridges and one recalls the recent contact between the President of Democratic Republic of Congo and his Rwanda counterpart, which seemed impossible until Qatar's intervention,” he said.

For  his  part  Mr  Al-Khalifa committed to work tirelessly to promote economic development, diversification and favourable business conditions to attract investment and create employment opportunities between his country and Botswana. ENDS

Source : BOPA

Author : Thato Mosinyi

Location : Gaborone

Event : Credentials

Date : 19 Jun 2025