Africa-Press – Botswana. Estonia President, Mr Alar Karis and his entourage wrapped up their four-day visit to Botswana on Thursday, a visit that has been described as fruitful by Foreign Affairs Minister, Dr Lemogang Kwape.
In an interview, Dr Kwape indicated that Mr Karis and President Dr Mokgweetsi Masisi first met at the inauguration of King Charles in The United Kingdom, where they mooted areas of possible cooperation by the two countries. “This week President Karis was here in Botswana at the invitation of Dr Masisi to share with us their success stories.
Estonia has success stories in the areas of Information, Communications and Technology (ICT), and Botswana has already enjoyed their assistance as they assisted the Botswana Unified Revenue Service (BURS) to set up an online tax management system called Lekgetho Live,” he said.
Dr Kwape said that the system had eased business for many Batswana as it enabled them to file tax returns from the comfort of their homes. Similarly, Dr Kwape said Estonia also had a lot to learn from Botswana, especially in the management of natural resources such as minerals.
“One of the facilities that Mr Karis visited was the Okavango Diamond Company where he learnt the story and production process of our diamonds.
This enabled him first hand information that would put him in a better position to explain to potential buyers back home,” he said.
He said there was a need by world leaders to have trust that Botswana diamonds are for development, which he said could only be better understood through such working visits by Heads of State.
On the area of ICT, Dr Kwape said Estonia was open to students from Botswana coming for attachments there, while Estonia ICT companies would also be willing to come to Botswana to assist where needed.
Dr Kwape said President Masisi’s trips, despite being perceived by some people as wasteful, the fact of the matter was that beneficial.
“President Masisi is active both locally and internationally and this is how a leader should be.
We live in a global society and no country can survive as an island, so we need to visit other countries to discuss areas of possible corporation for our benefit,” he said.
He said some of the benefits of Dr Masisi’s international visits included among others, the US-Africa Summit that was held late last year, which he said was made possible through networking with other world leaders during such international visits.
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