06 Jun 2024

The highly efficient Republic of Korea’s capital, Seoul, in the recent past ranked the world’s fourth largest metropolitan economy after Tokyo, New York City and Los Angeles, offers Botswana’s capital, Gaborone and other localities lessons in efficiently planned sustainable human habitat, President Dr Mokgweetsi Masisi has observed.

In an interview with BOPA after meeting the Mayor of Seoul, Mr Oh Se-hoon on Thursday, Dr Masisi said his vision was to see Botswana’s urban and rural areas becoming smart cities and efficiently planned settlements.

“The mayor is a university professor, an impeccably informed man, has a wealth of international experience including in Africa in advising leadership on providing services to citizenry and engaging them on their wellbeing. When he came to Botswana and my coming to Korea, it became a dovetailing of ideas, in everything that he is doing it fitted into our developmental disposition, including quality education and infrastructure, and pursuing functional civic organisation,” Dr Masisi said.

The President said Mayor Oh Se-hoon was equally passionate about a knowledge based economy and empowering citizens, something he said the two countries’ would look at pursuing jointly in a partnership.

“We discussed issues of governance, the compulsive need to perpetually train and sharpen people to be the best they could be, so they could thrive and we deliver the ecosystem at the local level that enables citizens to thrive. We decided that we would partner as part of the cooperation being developed between our ministries of Foreign Affairs, as we agreed during my meeting with the President of Korea, Mr Yoon Suk Yeol,” President Masisi said.

Furthermore, the President said Mayor Oh Se-hoon offered advice to Botswana given his vast experience as a former Member of the Korean National Assembly who previously served as the mayor of Seoul in 2006-11 and also worked as an academic, including as a research fellow at King’s College, London, Britian, focusing on job creation and economic efficiency of major cities around the world.

“He rendered some advice, with respect to his reading of Botswana, he picked up the need to develop more high-end tourism, to generate more revenue. It was a very refreshing meeting, we talked about public transportation systems, where Seoul has been a world leader and established connections with other cities in South East Asia, and digitisation of systems to enable the economy to facilitate development,” Dr Masisi said. 

He added that he invited the mayor to Botswana to exchange ideas including on how the country could build efficient towns that ensure seamless living and a thriving economy, and the hosting of Meetings, Incentive, Conferences and Exhibition (MICE) events, leveraging on the experience of Seoul, hosts of the 1988 Olympics, 2002 World Cup and other major events.

“He spoke to us about developing smart cities, and that is about efficiency, lowering the cost of services, having functional transport systems, sanitation, housing, better quality leisure and entertainment, security and overall prosperity, and that is what I yearn for everyone of the citizens of Botswana.” ends