Botswana: The Acting Minister of Foreign Affairs, Kabo Morwaeng, this morning welcomed the Deputy Foreign Minister of the Republic of Cuba, Elio Eduardo Rodriguez Perdomo, on his first visit to Botswana. Botswana and Cuba are known for their strong bilateral cooperation in the health sector, as evidenced mainly by the secondment of about 80 Cuban doctors to Botswana.
In his welcome remarks, Minister Morwaeng highlighted how Botswana had enjoyed excellent and successful cooperation with Cuba at national and multilateral levels since establishing diplomatic relations in 1977.
He expressed his gratitude on behalf of Batswana with regard to the contribution of Cuba to Botswana through the two countries’ bilateral relations. “We highly appreciate the Cuban Government and its people for its input on the growth of Botswana,” he said.
Minister Morwaeng said that taking into consideration the solidarity between the two countries, other potential sectors of cooperation can be explored. “Moving forward, we can even explore other economic sectors like the Agricultural sector, Tourism and Hospitality, and Sport,” said Morwaeng.
He further assured Perdomo that Botswana supports lifting the embargo against the island so that the Cuban economy can develop and allow its people to venture into businesses with other countries.
For his part, Perdomo said Cuba has always been grateful for the support they received from Botswana. He said Cuba they are aware of Botswana’s position on favouring the resolution that Cuba is asking for the uplifting of the blocking imposed on their island.
Furthermore, Perdomo stated his total agreement with Minister Morwaeng with regards to exploring other potential sectors of cooperation and further emphasized that his delegation is in Botswana to convey the message of the permanent intention of cooperation, solidarity and working together to enhance the relations between the two nations. Perdomo and his delegation will be in the country until March 30th 2023.