Botswana’s President Mokgweetsi Masisi was received in Bern on Monday by the seven-person Swiss government as part of a state visit. He had been impressed by a traditional open-air vote in northeastern Switzerland.
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The Botswanan delegation also held political talks with Interior Minister Alain Berset, Economics Minister Guy Parmelin and Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis.
The talks had focused on the further development of bilateral relations and the positions of the two countries on current global issues, the government said in a statementExternal link. These included cooperation within the UN framework, issues of democracy and human rights, and the impact on Africa of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
A memorandum of understanding on future cooperation between the two countries was signed.
Health has long been at the centre of Switzerland’s bilateral cooperation with Botswana. According to the government, both countries want to strengthen global health protection and the World Health Organization (WHO). Cultural and economic exchange should also be promoted more strongly, it said.
The Swiss delegation praised the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), which Botswana ratified in February, as a milestone for economic integration in Africa, with significant potential for local companies.
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Monday was the last day of Masisi’s three-day state visit. On Sunday he and Berset, who holds the rotating Swiss presidency this year, visited the Landsgemeinde (open-air vote) in canton Appenzell Inner Rhodes and witnessed the entire canton vote on a tax increase.
“I have never seen anything like that! The people of Appenzell are very good people,” Masisi said.
In Botswana there are assemblies called kgotlas comparable to Landsgemeinden, the government said. Berset had attended one of these on a visit in February.
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