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