Africa-Press – Botswana. President Dr Mokgweetsi Masisi is expected to attend the 19th summit of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) and the third South Summit of Group 77 and China in Kampala, Uganda, this week.
Speaking on the sidelines of the senior officials meeting yesterday, acting permanent secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Mr Clifford Maribe said the two high level engagements provided Botswana with another opportunity to attract investment from a larger and wider community of international actors.
“NAM is a useful platform as it provides us with opportunities to meet with other countries, discuss and take position on global issues. We discuss, among others, global challenges such as peace and security, and where they feel threatened we come together as countries to discuss and come with resolutions,” he said.
Mr Maribe said NAM was formed to promote multilateralism, peace and security. He said challenges facing the movement included the reform of the United Nations Security Council and the Middle-East conflict.
He said the senior officials meeting and the ministers meetings were preparatory sessions for the summit, which would be attended by over 50 heads of state.
Mr Maribe said the NAM summit would transit to the G77+China summit, and that it was a platform that provided countries with an opportunity to discuss global issues.
He explained that Botswana’s foreign policy was anchored on multilateralism and that the country needed to work with others to open opportunities for trade.
He added that President Masisi came up with the Reset Agenda and that it was focused on among others, production of goods and services and adding value to the country’s natural resources to generate more revenue to develop the country.
Mr Maribe also said Botswana needed friends to trade with and to get foreign direct investment.
He said NAM provided such an opportunity.
He noted that Uganda would assume the chairmanship of NAM for three years and that of the G77+China for one year.
NAM was founded in 1961 at the height of the Cold War between the West and East global blocs.
It has a membership of 120 countries and Botswana joined in 1970.
Mr Maribe said the G77+China summit would be held under the theme: Leaving No One Behind, and that the summit brought together developing countries that were members of the United Nations.
He said the two summits would also boost cooperation in trade, investment, sustainable development, climate change, poverty eradication and the digital economy.
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