By: Mnena Iyorkegh, Abuja.
Botswana has described Nigeria as a critical partner towards attaining business cooperation and growth in terms of people-to-people trade.
The High Commissioner of Botswana to Nigeria, Ms Philda Kereng, disclosed this at the Country’s 58th National Day celebration in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital.
The High Commissioner said that Nigeria is blessed with both natural and human resources which when properly harnessed, will boost the economy of both nations and the whole of Africa.
“I want to see us joining hands to lead the continent of Africa, because of the economic strength that both countries have.
“Nigeria has lots of enterprising trade; when Nigerians want to do business they display resilience against all odds to achieve set targets. We are also looking at the creative sector that is so vibrant.
“We have talented people who are not working but can be developed, so they can enter the film, food, fashion, and music industry, where Nigeria leads. We will together use tangible projects and business connections of Nigeria and Botswana to advance business relations and deepen trade cooperation”. She said.
The Envoy while lamenting the low level of trade volume between both countries, said that more needs to be done to harness economic advantages between two countries.
“We are looking at opportunities whereby, we can get more products from Nigeria, especially creative skills in developing cosmetics and textiles, we also want to trade on such skills and build capacity through it. So there is not much we are doing together at the moment to import and export, but we have to cultivate what we have seen as potential. Nigerians too can learn from Botswana livestock farming and beef production often exported to European countries to further develop the nation’s economy. We will collaborate on the beef production sector and Nigeria can invest in training our citizens in the creative sector going forward”. She added.
Similarly, according to the High Commissioner of Namibia to Nigeria and ECOWAS, Mr Humphrey Geiseb, Botswana is a country with possibly the largest number of diamonds in the world, which is good for Africa, as well as its economic growth in the sub-region.
“Botswana has been a crucial friend of Namibia for a long time. When Botswana became independent, the people of Namibia also rejoice. today, Botswana is celebrating is 58 Independence Day. We are equally happy that this is taking place in a situation where Botswana is enjoying economic prosperity and peace. We have more and more greater linkages between our two countries, to the extent that we are thinking about travel between our countries, when our nationals will only be using an ID card, so we have a lot of linkages between our two countries. We are very happy the prosperity that Botswana enjoys is also prosperity that is entirely also for the whole sub region, because we feel that everybody benefits from the same progress advances in our countries”. He said
He added that: ” Botswana is well known country that produces the highest production of diamonds in the world. And this is something that is good for Africa, that a country like Botswana is making a lot of achievements, producing quality diamonds It shows you that in the 58 years of independence, Botswana has struggled a lot. It has made concrete advances in achievements in various fields. Today, Southern Africa is happy because we are taking our diamonds to Botswana, because Botswana is also a place where you can sell diamonds, on the other hand, they are also bringing diamonds, buying from us, so that they can polish those diamonds. Nigerians should take greater interest in countries like Botswana, because it is a country that produces quality diamonds”. He added
The Southern African country, Botswana’ attained independence on the 30th of September, 1966.
