Gaborone — Botswana and Rwanda Bilateral Cooperation has grown exponentially by scale and scope since establishing diplomatic relations in 2004.
Marking the opening of the Botswana and Rwanda Joint Permanent Commission on Cooperation (JPCC) in Gaborone on Tuesday, a precursor to the state visit by Rwanda President, Mr Paul Kagame, Minister for International Relations, Dr Phenyo Butale said the bilateral mechanism was an important platform which afforded the two nations invaluable opportunity to exchange views on bilateral regional and global issues of mutual interest.
Dr Butale said that the visit afforded Botswana an opportunity to explore further avenues for deepening and broadening bilateral cooperation in the critical sectors of the two economies such as trade and investment, mining, tourism, culture and the promotion of exchanges in science, education and technology.
He also said beyond bilateral cooperation, the two countries continued to advance their common positions and values at continental and international level.
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"We remain confident that our collective efforts will play a significant role in the promotion of peace and security in the region and beyond the continent," said Dr Butale.
His counterpart, Rwanda Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Mr Olivier Nduhungirehe, said his nation was encouraged by the steady progress made across key sectors, among them; defence, police cooperation, mining, agriculture and livestock development as well as growing engagement between the private sectors of the two countries.
"Looking ahead, Rwanda sees strong potential to deepen further cooperation in the mining, energy and ICT sectors, which are critical to industrialisation and sustainable economic transformation of the African continent," he stated.
Mr Nduhungirehe said Rwanda was keen to exchange experiences in ICT, and to learn from Botswana's strong track record in mining, governance and the energy sector development.
"In this context Rwanda is exploring the introduction of nuclear energy, including Small Modular Reactors, as part of our future energy mix," he elaborated.
President Kagame's two-day state visit ends today. Ends
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