Africa-Press – Botswana. Botswana and France will start exploring means of boosting economic ties in animal and human vaccine development, artificial insemination science, travel tourism and innovation, among other things.
This came to the fore when President Dr Mokgweetsi Masisi met Ms Chrysoula Zacharopoulou, an envoy of the President of France, on the side-lines of the memorial service of former Namibia president, Dr Hage Geingob in Windhoek on Saturday.
Dr Masisi said while they were meeting on the side-lines of a sombre occasion, the issues he discussed with Ms Zacharopoulou, who is France’s Minister of State Development, Francophonie and International Partnerships were important for both states to lay a foundation for a workable future.
He said the two states had enjoyed good relations forged on common values with France having assisted Botswana to develop animal disease management in the past, laying the foundation for the national and regional success that later developed through the Botswana Vaccine Institute (BVI).
Dr Masisi said Botswana sought to leverage on its past experience in animal health vaccine to move towards human pharmaceutical produce with efforts in that regard having been started in partnership with an American based company and Botswana seeking to further glean from French expertise in that field.
He added that Botswana sought to develop intellectual capital and patents to become a solution provider in the fields of animal and human health for benefit of the African continent.
“We seek a mutually beneficial partnership. We may be a small population in a vast country the size of France, but we are well positioned in the middle of Southern Africa to link trade in the region and the continent. We are a law abiding country driven by ethical conduct. We would not engage in hoarding, we believe in fair trade to our benefit and to that of our neighbours,” Dr Masisi said.
He further emphasised that his presidential tenure had seen the country seek to pursue an economy driven by innovation, adding that Botswana would have much to learn from the French, as government sought to turn Gaborone’s historic Orapa House into a technological hub that could derive lessons from Station F in Paris, the world’s largest innovation start up campus.
For her part, Ms Zacharopoulou confirmed that she was meeting President Masisi at the behest of France president, Mr Emmanuel Macron, whom she said had taken great interest in strengthening French relations with African states. Ms Zacharopoulou concurred with President Masisi that Botswana and France were well poised to collaborate as partners in areas such as manufacturing and education on jewellery production.
She added that for such a partnership to bear fruit, the two states needed to quickly agree on at least four niche areas to focus on.
Ms Zacharopoulou extended an invite for President Masisi to visit France for the two states to further explore how to practically pursue deepened ties.
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