Africa-Press – Botswana. After a fruitful engagement over talks between President Dr Mokgweetsi Masisi and his Estonian counterpart Mr Alar Karis, it is evident the two states are laying the foundation for strengthened bilateral ties that could yield tangible political and economic benefit over time.
That was the overarching sentiment expressed by Dr Masisi and Mr Karis during a press conference they jointly addressed at the Office of the President yesterday.
Dr Masisi said the two countries already enjoyed strong bilateral relations premised on shared values, and President Karis’ state visit was used to primarily agree to reinforce relations, exploring cooperation in sectors such as education and information communications technology (ICT).
“We have instructed our ministries of foreign affairs to rapidly, within a month, to develop an enhanced and elaborate programme of collaboration, of cooperation, that builds on what already exists. We want areas of education to be prioritised, particularly as we in Botswana are committed to transforming from a resource-based economy to a knowledge-based one and we would like to harvest and harness the excellent performance of Estonia in the digital ICT space and ecosystem thereof,” Dr Masisi said.
He explained further that the two countries’ government officials and technical experts would formulate a plan of partnership and practical areas of potential successful cooperation and engage neighbouring states to broaden the scope of impact.
“We have decided to partner and our technocrats will advise us on the formulation of the partnership between Botswana and Estonia. We will share with Estonia what we have advantage in, and they likewise will reciprocate. In this collaborate partnership Botswana will enroll those in our neighbourhood, while Estonia will enroll the Nordic states for reciprocal benefit,” Dr Masisi revealed.
President Masisi further said Mr Karis invited him to a state visit to Estonia for the two countries to further explore strengthening their bilateral relations.
“When the opportunity arises I will be more than glad, and I will come with a delegation and we will engage and exchange to cement this bond,” Dr Masisi said.
For his part, President Karis said Botswana was the first African state he had visited since assuming the Estonian presidency in 2021, since he felt the two countries had strong opportunity for cooperation.
“It is not by coincidence that Botswana is the first African state I visit as President, it was carefully chosen as my first destination. Estonians are pragmatic people and would like to cooperate with those who are like minded. In Botswana we find hard working people with motivation to focus on sustainable climate goals, digitilisation of public administration, good education, as well as peace and security. We admire your achievements and support your ambitious national vision,” Mr Karis remarked.
He further revealed that the first Estonian African Study adopted in 2020 placed Botswana as a development cooperation African development priority country, and they would in that regard focus on digital transformation, women and girls’ rights, green technology and education technology.
“We endorse online solutions in Estonia. Here we were impressed to learn of the SmartBots and village connectivity which will promote and nurture good governance. We are proud to note that it was an Estonian company which helped the Botswana Unified Revenue Service (BURS) build its online tax declaration system. We continue to work together to build human-centric digital government and creating an ecosystem that supports innovation, Mr Karis said.
Additionally, President Karis revealed that during his meeting with President Masisi he had extended an invite for a Botswana delegation to attend the Africa Business Forum in the Estonian capital Tallinn in May, stressing that Botswana being ranked as the third least corrupt country in Africa was encouraging Estonian business leaders.
The two leaders also expressed their commitment to multilateralism and peaceful resolution of conflict, calling for the cessation of hostilities in the Russia-Ukraine conflict within Estonia’s proximity, as well as lasting peace to parts of the Southern African Development Community recently besieged by conflict, Mozambique’s Cabo Delgado region and parts of the Democratic Republic of Congo.
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