President Lula’s return a positive for Botswana, Africa
Brazil helps Botswana with strengthening cooperatives, Rural Associations Embassy exploring potential areas of cooperation in Pharmaceutical industry
The return of Brazilian President Lula Da Silva to office has been widely accepted across the world and Botswana is no exception, its High Commissioner to Brazil, Tebogo Motshome told Botswana Guardian in an exclusive interview.
This publication has it in good record that during the campaigns for elections, Lula used to convene regular meetings with African diplomats to inform them of what he intends doing including prioritising relations with them.
The two countries established diplomatic relations in 1985 and have enjoyed excellent bilateral relations over the years. Brazil remains a key player in Latin America and is the first country from the region to establish a resident diplomatic mission in Botswana.
The embassy opened in Botswana on the 9th of March 2007 whilst Botswana opened a resident embassy in Brazil in 2009. Motshome said this is mainly because President Lula has among others vowed to restore Brazil’s international standing, which had deteriorated during President Bolsonaro’s administration.
This was among others due to Bolsonaro’s environmental policies particularly concerning conservation of the Amazon Rainforest, rights of indigenous people as well as his handling of the Covid- 19 pandemic.
“For African countries, the election of President Lula presents an opportunity for more active bilateral engagements taking cue from the administration’s undertaking to prioritise relations with African countries”.
It would be recalled that during President Lula’s previous terms in office, relations with Botswana were fruitful as evidenced by the opening of the diplomatic missions in both countries, followed by a state visit by Lula to Botswana in 2010.
The two countries have signed several agreements which include among others the MoU on Cooperation on Defence Matters, Agreement on Cultural Cooperation, Agreement on Educational Cooperation, Agreement on Social Inclusion through Sport as well as the recent Agreement on Visa Exemption signed in 2022.
She said the two countries have an ongoing bilateral technical cooperation on strengthening/ capacity building of Rural Cooperatives and Associations in Botswana through a pilot project at Lentsweletau in the
Kweneng District.
Under the project aimed at Strengthening Cooperatives and Rural Associations in Botswana, the Organisation of Brazilian Cooperatives ( OCB), has carried out training seminars/ workshops for Botswana rural cooperatives on better methods towards improved agricultural production.
The Technical Cooperation Agreement between the two governments was signed in July 2005, and a subsequent complementary agreement to it intended to facilitate implementation of the project on development of cooperatives and rural associations, was signed in March 2010.
She said the implementation of the agreement progressed steadily despite Brazil’s economic crisis in 2016. Botswana has requested that the project be extended to other districts to fully capacitate Botswana farmers and equip them with necessary skills to establish fully- functional cooperatives given Brazil’s expertise in the field. The pilot project has been well received by participating farmers.
Motshome said a Brazilian delegation visited Botswana in June and October 2018, to explore agricultural opportunities for cooperatives as well as to map out the framework for the second phase of the cooperatives project with Botswana.
The two countries finally signed the MoU on Strengthening Cooperatives and Rural Associations in Botswana in March 2020, which covered the second phase of the project. Subsequently, a delegation from ABC visited Botswana in November 2022, to conduct training and workshops with farmers on agricultural cooperatives.
On technology driven health delivery systems, Motshome said Brazil is one of the world’s leading producers of pharmaceuticals, vaccines, medical equipment and accessories. The country has also developed cutting edge medical research and development programmes which have resulted in the invention of new medical technologies.
The Embassy has linked these Brazilian companies with Botswana companies to facilitate the transfer of technologies to Botswana through trade and investment.
She said a business delegation comprising senior executives from Wama Diagnostica, Deltronix and Rhosse visited Botswana in November 2021 to explore investment opportunities. Wama Diagnostica specialises in the manufacture and distribution of medical equipment such as test kits for Malaria, Covid- 19, HIVAIDS and Diabetes.
Deltronix specialises in the manufacture of mobile see and treat cervical cancer equipment while Rhosse specialises in the production of incubators for premature babies.
Following a reconnaissance visit to EUROPHARMA, the largest pharmaceuticals manufacturing concern in South America, the Botswana Embassy has facilitated a link between this Brazilian company with a Botswana company, which is interested in purchasing the Brazilian, packaging and labelling them in Botswana as a first step, followed by the establishment of a manufacturing entity in the country.
Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dr. Lemogang Kwape also visited Brazil in July 2022 at the invitation of his then counterpart, Alberto Carlos França to review the state of bilateral relations and discuss new areas of possible cooperation between the two countries.
The highlight of the visit was the signing of a bilateral agreement on Visa Exemption that will facilitate the ease of doing business, tourism and people to people interaction between the two countries.
Dr. Kwape also had the opportunity to visit some agribusiness for benchmarking and had meetings with some pharmaceutical companies, which include Europharma,