Botswana President Mokgweetsi Eric Masisi will be in Harare
this week for the inaugural Zimbabwe-Botswana Bi-National Commission (BNC), as
President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s administration ratchets up diplomatic
re-engagement efforts designed to unlock mutually beneficial relations.
Eight agreements covering political, diplomatic and
economic sectors are expected to be signed.
Harare and Gaborone upgraded their relations from a Joint
Commission to Bi-National Commission in August last year, paving the way for
annual meetings between the two Heads of State.
Official meetings under the historic BNC begin today. The
engagements will culminate in the meeting between President Mnangagwa and his
counterpart on Thursday.
In a statement yesterday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
and International Trade described the BNC as “the highest bilateral framework
of cooperation between Zimbabwe and Botswana”.
“The Inaugural Session of the Zimbabwe and Botswana
Bi-National Commission (BNC) will be held on 28 February 2019 at Meikles Hotel
in Harare and will be headed by the two countries’ Heads of State and
Government, His Excellency, President E D Mnangagwa, and his Botswana
counterpart, H.E. President Dr Mokgweetsi Eric Keabetswe Masisi,” read the
statement.
It added: “The BNC replaced the Joint Permanent Commission
on Co-operation between the two countries, which last sat as the 12thSession in
Gaborone, Botswana, from 8 to 11 February 2018.
“The BNC is the highest bilateral framework of co-operation
between Zimbabwe and Botswana. It will be preceded by a Ministerial Meeting on
27 February 2019, and a Senior Officials meeting on 25 and 26 February 2019.
“Eight Memoranda of Understanding and Agreements covering
political and diplomatic, economic, social, and defence and security sectors
will be signed during this Session.”
Relations between Zimbabwe and its neighbour were frosty
under the old administration, but they are beginning to thaw under the
President Mnangagwa-led administration.
Since taken over as the second Executive President of
Zimbabwe in November 2017, President Mnangagwa actively sought to restore
relations with Gaborone as he made Botswana the destination for his first
official State visit as Head of State.
Zimbabwe and Botswana agreed to upgrade their relations
from a Joint Commission to Bi-National Commission soon after President Mnangagwa
came into office.
This culminated in the signing of the BNC agreement by
Foreign Affairs and International Trade Minister Dr Sibusiso Moyo and
Botswana’s International Affairs and Cooperation Minister Dr Unity Dow on the
sidelines of the 38th Sadc summit held in Windhoek, Namibia, last year.
President Mnangagwa and Botswana President Masisi witnessed
the signing of the agreement.
The elevated diplomatic relations between the two countries
are expected to open new frontiers for political and economic cooperation.
Most instructively, Botswana has been fighting in
Zimbabwe’s corner and recently called for the unconditional lifting of
sanctions against Harare.
Besides Botswana, Zimbabwe signed a BNC with South Africa
in 2016.
Expectedly, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa will be
visiting the country next month as Sadc leaders continue to throw their weight
behind President Mnangagwa, who is expected to take over as the next chair of
regional body’s Troika on Politics, Defence and Security.
President Mnangagwa’s Government is untiringly working on
breaking Zimbabwe’s two-decade-old isolation through engaging and re-engaging
with regional and international countries and institutions. Sunday Mail
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