Africa-Press – Botswana. Botswana continues to enjoy strong and fruitful diplomatic relations with its neighbouring countries, President, Dr Mokgweetsi Masisi has said.
This, he said had enabled the country and the region to soldier through difficult times such as the demise of regional leaders in the late Namibian President, Dr Hage Geingob and the recent loss of 45 Batswana in a bus accident in South Africa.
President Dr Masisi said this while addressing Botswana envoys and foreighn envoys accredited to Botswana, both local and foreign in Gaborone on Wednesday. He also appreciated the envoys for messages of solidarity following the death of 45 Batswana in South Africa recently.
Dr Masisi said such good diplomatic relations had also seen bilateral agreements such as the establishment of the Kazungula Bridge Authority with Zambia, which he said would also benefit the rest of the continent.
He however said while the African continent strived tirelessly to achieve regional integration and economic prosperity for its citizens, concerns still remained on actions of some international partners which he said had the unfortunate effect of hampering the continent’s socio-economic progress.
“It is a well-known fact that Botswana government has been unwavering in its commitment and support in calling for the removal of illegal and unwarranted sanctions on Zimbabwe by the US government,” Dr Masisi said.
He said while Botswana continued to call for the complete removal of the sanctions, partial lifting of the restrictions were so far encouraging. The President therefore urged the two countries to engage each other as this would also ease the burden of spillover into Botswana.
On security matters in the region, Dr Masisi said Botswana remained engaged in advancing peace and security in the region as seen by its participation in SAMIM and sending military observers to the Democratic Republic of Congo.
He said in response to security threats, SADC had put in place measures such as infrastructure development. “One of them is the Botswana based SADC standby force regional logistics depot, which will support regional peace operations and humanitarian missions under the African Union (AU) standby force policy framework,” explained Dr Masisi.
He said the facility would facilitate storage of material, equipment and end user stocks to ensure rapid deployment of readily available logistical support when required. Concerning the AU, Dr Masisi said Botswana remained committed to aspirations of the continental organ, particularly the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area, which he said had the potential to transform the future of the continent towards stable development.
Dr Masisi however, decried the continued failed efforts at silencing the guns in the continent despite the date to achieve that having been pushed back.
He also condemned international conflicts such as the war between Russia and Ukraine, which he said had drastically affected Africa as it had driven high the cost of basic commodities such as fuel and foods.
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