Africa-Press – Botswana. Botswana attaches a lot of importance to its relations with China, which are premised on mutual respect and cooperation.
Speaking during a courtesy call by the vice chairperson of the Standing Committee of National People’s Congress of China, Mr Peng Qinghua and his delegation on Monday in Gaborone, Acting President, Mr Slumber Tsogwane said Botswana attached great importance to enhancing political, economic and people to people relations with China.
Mr Tsogwane thanked the Chinese delegation for including Botswana in this year’s schedule of its working visit to Africa, adding that the visit served as an opportunity to share knowledge and learn about each other’s governance structures.
He said the visit would achieve much in reaffirming the friendship between Botswana and China and charting the way forward on issues of mutual interest.
Mr Tsogwane said the visit was significant as it spoke to the determination and will of the two countries to consolidate the close bilateral relations and to grow the historical bonds of friendship and cooperation between the two countries.
“Since the establishment of diplomatic relations in 1975, Botswana-China relations have continued to develop and mature,” he said.
Mr Tsogwane expressed gratitude for the development support that China continued to render to Botswana.
“China’s assistance in areas such as health, infrastructure development, capacity-building, agriculture and technology is substantial and is a positive contribution to our development,” he said.
He said they would continue to engage on how to maximise opportunities under the Forum on China Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) to drive Botswana’s economic diversification agenda.
For his part, Mr Peng said China and Botswana were both developing countries and shared the same aspirations, adding that their visit was meant to consolidate cooperation between the two countries.
“China appreciates Botswana’s support on every aspect,” said Mr Peng.
He stated that China continued to assist Botswana bilaterally and under FOCAC, saying sectors benefitting from Chinese assistance were transport in areas of railways and roads, adding that Botswana government utilised Chinese funding in the forms of grants and soft loans for different infrastructural projects.
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