24 Nov 2020

Out-going Japanese Ambassador to Botswana, Takeda Kozo has said the existing bilateral relations between Botswana and Japan are growing very strong including at grassroots level.

Speaking at the official opening of the seventh painting exhibition at Ben Thema Primary School on Monday, Kozo said the annual event was undeniably strong evidence of deepening relations between the two countries.

He said relations between the two countries were established based not only on political and economic partnerships, but on other significant factors such as cultural exchanges to further deepen mutual understanding.

The paintings were the work of the standard three pupils of Chigasaki Primary School and Tsuzuki Multicultural and Youth Plaza in Japan.

As part of the exchange programme, similar work from Ben Thema standard three pupils would be exhibited in Japan at the Tsuzuki ward hall in December and at JICA Yokohama in Japan in March next year, he said.

Mr Kozo said this year Japanese learners who had been learning about life in Botswana were asked to draw a picture under the theme; Conveying the Image of Japan to Botswana students.

Ambassador Kozo said the exhibition would not only attract the curiosity of the pupils, but would help shed more light on the life of school children in Japan.

For his part, Assistant Director for the department of Asia and the Pacific, Mr Herold Luke said they believed cultural exchanges such as the one between Botswana and Japan had to be encouraged.

Such synergies, he said, also acted as vital investment instruments for mutual understanding between the people of the two countries. ENDS