Pretoria, Oct 8 (Prensa Latina) Cuban medical cooperation in Botswana, much appreciated by local authorities for over 30 years, is an example of excellent bilateral relations, expressed ambassador in this nation, Patricia Pego Guerra. Besides the group also has physiotherapists, rehabilitators, pharmacists and lab workers, said the ambassador, who detailed that Cubans are deployed in the different districts of Lobatse, Mochudi, Serowe, Selebi-Phikwe, Mahalapye, Gaborone, Molepolole, Francistown and Maun.
Botswana is a country of southern Africa without access to the sea, surrounded by Zambia, Zimbabwe, South Africa and Namibia, and among its characteristics has 70 percent of its territory occupied by the Kalahari desert and inside its borders has the biggest interior delta of the world, that of river Okavango, which does not end in the sea.
That African nation and Cuba established relations on December 9, 1977 and a few years later, cooperation started in several sectors, including those in education, health and sports.
In the political level, Cuba and Botswana maintain close relations through official high-level visits, as those made by
Seretse Khama Ian Khama when he was vicepresident (2007) and 2010 when he was head of State and Government.
On the Cuban part, vicepresident of the State Council, Salvador Valdés Mesa, headed the Cuban delegation to the 50th anniversary celebrations of Botswana Independence, in September 2016, accompanied by deputy Minister of Foreign Relations, Ana Teresita Gonzalez and astronaut Brigade General Arnaldo Tamayo Mendez.
Cuba offers Botswana each year two scholarships for youths of that country to study medicine in the island.