JAPAN and the WORLD Magazine JULY ISSUE 2015 #Issue 12 | Page 49

Mokoro safari at Okavango Delta.
in contrast to other countries where such Q Botswana and Japan are both heavy
resources have benefited only a few in the
energy importers, how can bilateral
elite and ruling classes.
relations between both nations help
each country’s energy needs?
Q In what ways is Botswana striving
for economic diversification?
A I think our cooperation with Japan will
focus mainly on the area of technology
sharing. We have some deposits of coal bed
methane gas, but we are yet to bring it to a
level of commercial production, where we
can actually utilize it in the country. It is
still very much a work in progress. We see
A In the sector of education, we have Botswana
International University of Science and
Technology established in 2005 to attract
young people from Botswana and abroad.
In the agricultural sector, the Lower Zambezi
Agricultural Project will be inaugurated to
establish a farming area to produce as much
agricultural products as possible and add
value by processing goods before sending
them to markets.
The idea is to look at all the sectors and
develop them in such a way that in the future,
when mining becomes less important to our
economy, we have other sectors to rely on.
But even in the mining sector there is room
for diversification. For example we process
a lot of copper in Botswana’s refineries
and are in negotiations with other South
African copper mines to bring their copper
into Botswana for refinement. We are also
looking to become a hub for the production
of jewelry in the region, which is an area we
haven’t fully developed in the past.
Diamond sorting at Diamond Trading Company Botswana (DTCB).
JULY 2015 // 49