Africa-Press – Botswana. DRC president, Mr Felix Tshisekedi’s visit to Botswana marks a new journey in relations between the the two nations, their leaders have said. Speaking during a State Banquet hosted by President Dr Mokgweetsi Masisi in his honour, Mr Tshisekedi said time was nigh for the two states to establish a strategic mutually beneficial partnership.
President Tshisekedi said Botswana was a model for the African continent in its entirety, owing to prudent stewardship of the economy and effective management of natural resources for the creation of prosperity for all, something the DRC could learn from.
He said the two countries were both well-endowed with natural resources and could benefit from working together in areas such as mining, agriculture and security.
President Tshisekedi said the opening of the DRC Chancery in Gaborone and the Business Forum due to be held this week would activate the new journey towards cooperation between Gaborone and Kinshasa.
For his part President Masisi said the two countries had agreed in 2012 on the need for a General Framework Agreement for Cooperation, and relations would finally be strengthened through the soon to be established Joint Permanent Commission of Cooperation.
“We will need to address the issues of cross-border value addition to what we produce, especially in view of the ongoing investment in infrastructure within our trade corridors. We cannot continue to export jobs out of our countries and regions to other parts of the world where our primary products are beneficiated and re-exported to us at higher costs,” said Dr Masisi.
He added that the opening of the Kazungula Bridge, which President Tshisekedi had attended among other regional heads of state, was a giant step towards cooperation by African countries.
“It marked an important phase, not only in trade facilitation among countries of the South of our continent, but also gave an indispensable push to regional and continental integration envisaged between the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and other regional economic communities,” said Dr Masisi.
He added that the two states, were “poised to reap handsome dividends from combined huge natural resource endowment and human capital” if they worked in close collaboration with sister SADC states and the broader continent within the framework of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA). President Masisi further said that relations between the two countries would be anchored on a history of bonds of friendship.
He cited among others, the presence of the President of the then Zaire, Mobutu Sese Seko in Gaborone in September 1977, on the occasion of Botswana’s tenth anniversary of independence, and former Botswana President Sir Ketumile Masire facilitatin at the Inter Congolese Dialogue at the turn of the century.
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