22 Oct 2026

Botswana looks forward to deepening cooperation with Australia, particularly in fire and disaster management, amid the looming threat of a super El Niño weather phenomenon.

President Advocate Duma Boko said this during a farewell courtesy call by outgoing Australian High Commissioner to Botswana, Ms Tegan Brink in Gaborone on October 21.

President Boko expressed appreciation for Australia’s support to Botswana in various areas, including fire and disaster management, education, economic management and institutional strengthening.

“We will experience fires because of the extreme heat that will be brought about by the very dry forests and wild lands. The fires will spread fairly rapidly when they strike and we need to be ready, we need to try and anticipate as best we can,” he said.

President Boko expressed hope that Australia would continue supporting Botswana, building on the assistance it had provided over the years.

He said Botswana had benefited from about 50 postgraduate master’s study opportunities, with additional slots also provided, describing the assistance as a valuable contribution to the country’s development.

He also highlighted links between the two countries’ legal systems, noting that Australian court decisions continued to be persuasive in Botswana. He cited the 1992 Mabo case, which he said had played a prominent role in resolving intense disputes over the rights of indigenous people.

For her part, Ms Brink, who has served in Botswana since 2023, said Australia valued its relationship with Botswana, which she described as Africa’s longest-continuous democracy.

She said Australia, a major mining country, had about half a dozen companies operating in Botswana at different stages, from exploration to production and export.

Ms Brink said Sandfire’s Motheo copper project in Ghanzi was among the best-known investments, employing about 2 000 people, 95 per cent of whom were Batswana, and contributing more than two per cent to Botswana’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

“Copper is a commodity that everybody in the world wants because of electrification and the energy transition, which makes our two countries’ mining investment an exciting part of the relationship,” she said.

On education, Ms Brink said Australia saw opportunities for cooperation with Botswana, particularly in expanding educational offerings to meet the growing mining industry’s skills requirements.

She said 40 Batswana had graduated from the Engineering Institute of Technology, while the University of Queensland had been developing a curriculum to be delivered by Maun Technical College.

Ms Brink also highlighted Australia’s support for the International Savannah Management Initiative, through which Aboriginal Australians shared their knowledge and expertise in bushfire management.

“Australia is also concerned about floods and fires, and I will take Botswana’s concerns about El Niño back to see what might be done,” she said.

On multilateral cooperation, Ms Brink said Botswana and Australia, as small and medium powers, relied on a rules-based international system that enabled transparent cooperation.

She said Australia remained committed to the United Nations (UN), the Commonwealth and the World Trade Organisation, while appreciating Botswana’s support for its initiative to protect humanitarian personnel.

Ms Brink said Australia was campaigning for a non-permanent seat on the UN Security Council for the 2029–2030 term. She added that Australian Foreign Affairs Minister, Ms Penny Wong, believed Africa deserved greater representation on the Council. ENDS