Victoria Falls (New Ziana) – Botswana leader, Mokgweetsi Masisi arrived in the resort City, Victoria Falls on Thursday to join his counterpart, President Emmerson Mnangagwa at the 3rd Zimbabwe-Botswana Bi-National Commission (BNC).
President Mnangagwa, who had touched down at the Victoria Falls International Airport from Harare moments earlier, received his guest for the annual meeting.
Zimbabwe and Botswana upgraded their relations from Joint Commission to BNC level in 2018, a move that has seen the leaders of both nations meeting annually to digest important socio-political and economic matters.
The last BNC was held in Maun, Botswana in 2020 and could not be held last year due to Covid-19 restrictions.
At the last meeting, Zimbabwe and Botswana inked an agreement on mutual legal assistance in criminal matters and six MoUs in areas including health, provision of sustainable, affordable and functional low-cost housing, co-operation in the field of media, information and publicity and on sport development.
Harare and Gaborone also signed MoUs on employment and labour as well as on cooperation in technical, vocational education and training.
Negotiations for the 3rd BNC started on Monday at government official level then Ministerial level and are now being escalated to Heads of State level.
Welcoming his guest, President Mnangagwa tweeted;”Thank you my brother @officialMasisi. We are building ties across Africa. Zimbabwe and Botswana stands united.”
Speaking earlier, Foreign Affairs and International Trade Minister Frederick Shava said several agreements and MoUs were ready for signing at the end of the BNC on Friday.
“I have been briefed that some Agreements and Memoranda of Understanding are ready for signing tomorrow in the presence of our Principals,” he said.
“Though the signing is commendable, it is not an end in itself. The real benefits of these legal instruments derive from their diligent implementation. What we seek is to bolster our bilateral cooperation and the realisation of the aspirations of our peoples through diligent implementation of concluded Agreements and Memoranda of Understanding.”
Botswana International Affairs and Cooperation Minister Lemogang Kwape said noteworthy progress had been made in the implementation of previous agreements and MoUs.
“We still have a number of pending MoUs and agreements which have the potential to broaden our cooperation agenda. I hope that we will re-double our efforts with a view to speedily finalise all the pending instruments,” he said.
New Ziana
