25 Feb 2025

President Advocate Duma Boko has reaffirmed Botswana’s commitment to continue working closely with Tunisia and Czech Republic.

Receiving the Letters of Credence from the Ambassador-Designates of both countries in Gaborone on Tuesday, President Boko also Botswana would further strengthen the cordial relations, which existed between Botswana and the two nations.

He appreciated the strong friendship that Botswana shared with Tunisia dating back to 2005.

Botswana and Tunisia, President Boko said still had many areas in which they could collaborate to grow and strengthen the relations.

“There is an area that was begun and it seemed to just die off and it had been discussed between the two countries of opening up for travel, removing all the restrictions and Visas. The discussions started and they didn’t go anywhere,” he said.

“So, one of the things we should do is to try and close that part. We need to make sure that we open up the continent for its people to travel, access each other, exchange views and cultures and to develop their continent,” he added.

Tunisia, President Boko said was a great ally, adding that the two countries could work together on areas of agriculture and climate challenges.

Presenting her Letters of Credence, the Ambassador-Designate of Tunisia to Botswana, Ms Karima Bardaoui congratulated the government of Botswana for signing the new sales agreement for the rough diamonds production with the De Beers Group.

The signing of the agreement, Ms Bardaoui said presented a good opportunity and success for the country. In terms of growing and strengthening the already existing cordial relations between the two nations, she said Botswana could further cooperate with Tunisia in areas of health, gender equality and Sustainable Development Goals.

“We will be more than happy to also collaborate with you on anything related to transparency and anti-corruption measures. I think we can be inspired by you and also exchange other best practices between our two countries,” she added. For his part, Ambassador-Designate of Czech Republic to Botswana, Mr Tomas Ulicny, who will be based in Pretoria, South Africa, expressed appreciation for the relations that Botswana shared with his country in areas of education and health.

Czech Republic, Mr Ulicny said was an industrialised nation with the lowest unemployment rate of 2.5 per cent in Europe.

This, he said presented a good opportunity for Botswana as the country was looking for labour force elsewhere in the world, especially across the African continent.

President Boko welcomed Mr Ulicny’s initiative to contribute toward diversification of the two countries’ economies by sending a business delegation, with some political backing, to Botswana to explore ways of collaboration with the country’s business community.

This, the President said was a welcomed development that would go a long way in helping the two countries build business partnerships that would propel both economies further.

“I think we need to strengthen more of these ties,” he added. ENDS