24 Sep 2024

Botswana and China have decided to elevate bilateral relations to strategic partnership, says Minister for State President, Mr Kabo Morwaeng.

The minister was speaking at the reception to celebrate the 75th anniversary of China and reception for Ambassador Fan Yong in Gaborone on Monday.

He said the development would provide a platform for more strategic engagement and dialogue on areas of mutual interest.

Mr Morwaeng said Botswana was looking forward to deeper engagement with China to leverage on the vast and advanced technological capacity of China in areas such as agriculture, poverty eradication, education and infrastructure.

He said Botswana attached great importance to its relations with China and would continue to respect and support the one China policy and principles.

He also said as the two nations approached the 50th anniversary of their bilateral relations in 2025, it was timely that the President, Dr Mokgweetsi Masisi, and his China counterpart, President Xi Jinping, met on the margins of the recent FOCAC.

He said the two leaders recommitted themselves to working together to consolidate bilateral relations and enable the citizens of Botswana and China to take advantage of the vast opportunities available in both countries.

Mr Morwaeng said it was befitting that on the 75th anniversary, China had assumed its place as a global leader as demonstrated by China championing global initiatives such as the Global Development Initiative, Global Security Initiative and the Global Civilisation Initiative.

He said the initiatives provided new opportunities for the development of global south and painted a new vision for the progress of the international community.

Botswana has benefitted from loans, grants, capacity building, technical assistance and infrastructure development across a number of sectors.

For his part, Mr Fan said President Xi, announced that bilateral relations between China and all African it had diplomatic relations with were to be elevated to the level of strategic relations.

Mr Fan said the overall characterisation of China-Africa relations was to be elevated to an all-weather China-Africa community with a shared future for the new era.

He said China’s economic influence continued to increase upholding continuously its opening-up policy and was an important engine of global economic development.

He also said China’s contribution to world economic growth was around 30 per cent from 2013 to 2023 with GDP growing by five per cent in the first half of 2024.

He said President Masisi attendance of the FOCAC with a senior delegation demonstrated the great importance he attached to the development of bilateral relations and the friendship he had with China. Ends