Botswana's President urges transport, agriculture ties

Botswana's President Duma Boko has urged officials in Namibia and Botswana to drive towards increased trade in the areas of transport, agriculture and trade, stressing that the two neighbourly states deeply depend on one another.Commenting on the liquidation of Air Namibia in 2021, and current challenges plaguing Air Botswana, Boko called on the need for both countries to seek solutions around enhancing transport linkages."Air Botswana is on the verge of collapse. Botswana has 2.5 million people, Namibia about 3 million. What can these two countries do in the area of airline transportation? What can they do, the both of them, not in competition, objective, plausible, complementarity," Boko said."When are we starting work on the Trans-Kalahari Railway and the pipelines, the oil pipelines that we must build, opening up frontiers of trade amongst ourselves and into the rest of the continent under the Africa Continental Free Trade Area Agreement? When are we translating these sermons into lived reality for our people?" he added.Another area of opportunity Boko stressed was the need for Namibia to assist Botswana in the agricultural sector where the need arose, and cited the decline in cattle numbers from about 3 million to an estimated 1.1 million, leaving Botswana unable to fulfil the lucrative European Union (EU) quota."When Botswana fails to meet its quota to the EU because the national herd has drastically diminished, Namibia must step in and fill that gap," he said.Boko stressed the need for both countries to acknowledge the need for greater collaboration."We need each other. We need each other desperately. We must acknowledge this. Botswana needs Namibia desperately. Namibia needs Botswana desperately. Fact. It's axiomatic. It goes without saying."The relationship between the two countries was such that there was also a need for both countries to avoid neighbourly friction."Despite the fact that we need each other so desperately, we also pose immense dangers to each other, and so in terms of this contradiction, we are pretty much like the proverbial unhappy couple. We can't live together, yet we can't live apart. We must make it work, whether we like it or we do not."With both governments having concluded 8 memorandums of understanding, Boko urged the need for speedy implementation, saying it was necessary for outcomes to be achieved within a stated time."They must be time-bound. We must put down timelines, strict timelines and stick to those timelines because we have a revolution to effect on the African continent in our countries and a revolution is not endless, it has to achieve outcomes within a period of time and so many of these programmes that we are looking at here, these memoranda that we will sign, how much time do we have before we see tangible results sounding in jobs, in improved livelihoods, in improved infrastructure, in enhanced opportunities for growth and collaboration?" he said.Following the conclusion of the Bi-National Commission, Botswana and Namibia are scheduled to have a mid-year review ahead of the third Bi-National Conference to be held at a yet to be determined date.

Botswana's President urges transport, agriculture ties

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Namibian Sun 2025-11-18

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Botswana's President urges transport, agriculture ties

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Namibian Sun 2025-11-18

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