Botswana FM's visit to China important and successful: embassy

Botswana's Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of Botswana Pelonomi Venson- Moitoi recently paid an official visit to China, which was important and successful on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between China and Botswana, the Chinese embassy to Botswana has said.

"It marks another milestone of China-Botswana relations, since it is the first time when Botswana foreign minister officially visited China since 1998," said the embassy in a press release, adding that the two sides have discussed bilateral, regional and international issues of mutual concern, and reached lots of consensus and fruitful results.

The two sides agreed that Botswana and China enjoy friendly relations as demonstrated by numerous high-level exchange visits and mutually beneficial cooperation since the establishment of diplomatic relations in 1975. The two countries have always treated each other as equals and achieved remarkable results in cooperation in various fields such as economy, trade, culture, education, health care and military, said the embassy.

It further said the two sides decided to make joint efforts to promote the practical cooperation in five major areas including agriculture and animal husbandry, processing industry, infrastructure, human resource development, medical and health cooperation.

During the meetings, the two sides agreed that during the past years, a lot of projects in Botswana have been constructed by Chinese companies, and most of them have been finished on time with good quality. Some problematic projects like Morupule B power plant are individual phenomenon, which cannot represent all Chinese companies, and should not hinder the overall friendly relations between the two countries, said the release.

China fully understands the importance of Morupule B power plant project to people's livelihood and economic development of Botswana, and feels very distressed that the project constructed by a Chinese company cannot be fully operational till today, although the causes are very complicated.

Relevant authorities of the Chinese government have already interviewed the accountable officials of the Chinese company several times, demanding them to come up with a feasible rehabilitation plan, and to cooperate with Botswana side to fix the failures completely as soon as possible, said the embassy, adding that the two sides shall work closely to solve this problem as soon as possible.

During the visit, China highly appreciated Botswana's long-term efforts in protecting wildlife and strengthening international cooperation in this field. In order to facilitate and collaborate Botswana's effort, the Chinese government will donate 10 million RMB (equals about 16 million Pula) worth of goods to Botswana Government for wildlife protection cause, said the embassy.

The Chinese embassy to Botswana has vowed to make concerted efforts with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of Botswana, and other Botswana authorities, to actively implement the consensus reached by our two sides during Venson-Moitoi's visit to China, to constantly enlarge the friendly, mutual beneficial cooperation in all areas, and to push China- Botswana relations for rapid development so as to benefit the two countries and peoples. Endi