Rathedi is first ambassador to CARICOM

Staff Writer | Monday February 24, 2014 16:07

Rathedi, who is Botswana’s resident ambassador to Brazil, was also accredited as the country’s first Plenipotentiary Representative to CARICOM in a ceremony in Guyana this week.

CARICOM is an organisation of 15 Caribbean nations and dependencies, whose main purposes are to promote economic integration and cooperation among its members, to ensure that the benefits of integration are equitably shared, and to coordinate foreign policy.

Its major activities involve coordinating economic policies and development planning; devising and instituting special projects for the less-developed countries within its jurisdiction; operating as a single regional market for its members and handling regional trade disputes.

The CARICOM secretariat headquarters is in Georgetown, Guyana.

At the ceremony Rathedi underscored what she saw as a need for Africa and the Caribbean to make greater efforts to work together.

“There is, indeed, power in unity,” she said.

Botswana first established diplomatic ties with a Caribbean country in 1978, when it formalised relations with Guyana.

“As the community seeks to deepen ties with the African continent through strengthened relations with individual states and sub-regions, Botswana presents itself as a meaningful interlocutor with CARICOM states in this regard,” CARICOM secretary general Irwin LaRocque told the new envoy. 

“Your position as the headquarters country for the Southern African Development Community (SADC) as well as a willingness in seeking to strengthen relations at this time augurs well for our close collaboration.

“Indeed, the two communities face similar development challenges in the process of regional integration and cooperation,” LaRocque said.

Rathedi said Botswana was interested in continuing cooperation between CARICOM and SADC, pointing to the historical ties between the two regions.

“We still remember vividly the active and very bold positions of the Caribbean countries that contributed to the efforts to end colonialism and apartheid in our part of the world,” she said.

“Today the southern African region boasts of relative peace and stability, thanks to the enduring support of the Caribbean community and that of other friends in other parts of the world,” she said.