Africa-Press – Botswana. Botswana stands ready to host pharmaceutical companies from India that wish to set up production and research facilities in the country.
This was revealed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Acting Permanent Secretary, Mr Clifford Maribe during the Botswana-India foreign office consultation meeting recently.
Mr Maribe said India’s accomplishments as a leading manufacturer of pharmaceutical drugs were commendable and an inspiration to Botswana.
With India being a significant player in the diamond beneficiation space and one of Botswana’s diamond markets, Mr Maribe said government was hopeful that the whole array of value chain activities would take place in Botswana.
He thus challenged technocrats and diplomats from both countries to work hard and continuously seek opportunities for investment, collaboration and partnerships at all levels. Mr Maribe said it was critical to enhance economic links and collaboration between the two countries, especially in the era of an increasingly uncertain post pandemic world, which distracts developmental progress.
He stated that the two countries enjoyed a long history of sound bilateral relations and were counted among the world’s stable democracies with their leaders determined to propel their economies to higher standards.
“It is clear that India attaches great importance to her relations with Botswana and the two countries’ relation is a time-tested relationship, which embraces substantive political, economic, social and people to people ties,” Mr Maribe said.
He noted that the matured and friendly relations between the two countries provided the space to consider all issues holistically and in a constructive manner, with a view to continuously build on bilateral relations and achieve mutual beneficial outcomes.
Mr Maribe therefore said he was hopeful that the foreign offices consultations would provide a platform to discuss outstanding bilateral issues.
“We sincerely believe that meetings of close friends such as Botswana and India should be held more regularly in order to track progress on various areas of cooperation and we also look forward to the holding of the Joint Ministerial Commission, which will allow our principals to continue to provide direction to our bilateral cooperation and also re-commit to stronger political relations,” he said.
For his part, India Secretary responsible for East and Southern Africa, Mr Shri Kundal stated that the essence of the foreign consultations was to engage in candid discussions on how to consolidate the bilateral relations and enhance mutual trust and understanding.
He said bilateral visits at the highest level had contributed significantly in strengthening the bonds of friendship and cooperation between the two nations, which share the highest ideals of democracy.
Mr Kundal said another important aspect of the two countries’ strong bilateral relationship was in the trade and commerce , noting that companies from India regularly participated in the annual Global Expo and related events in Botswana.
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