US sees enduring value in Botswana relationship
Mbongeni Mguni - Pauline Dikuelo | Wednesday June 10, 2026 11:33
It's enduring and I think that I would attribute the fact that it's a strong, enduring relationship to the fact that it's built on shared values. You know, the United States is the oldest democracy in the world and Botswana is the oldest multi-party democracy in Africa.
Despite the fact that we are vastly different in many ways, we share some common attributes and values. We both believe in the rule of law. We believe that the people should be governed by elected governments and we share a heritage where we were both at one point ruled by the British.
The United States liberated itself through a violent revolution and Botswana had a different path to its independence, but the bottom line is that we share values. We think that people should be free to express themselves as they are here in Botswana.
We think that people should be free to pursue their economic destinies, without interference. And so I think that our strong, enduring relationship is based on shared values, no question about it.
Mmegi: The US has been a key developmental partner for Botswana over the decades, particularly in the area of health. Please provide any brief updates you can on the collaboration in this area? Van Vranken: The United States and Botswana have collaborated on a number of important endeavours over the years. I think the fact that the Peace Corps, for example, has been in Botswana almost uninterrupted since 1966 reflects the kind of enduring commitment that the United States has.
In terms of health, I mean, I think the United States remains a very committed partner. In December, we signed a $106 million Memorandum of Understanding with Botswana focused on health. It’s a bit different than the way that we've supported Botswana's health sector in the past in as much as this is a continuation of the President's Emergency Programme for AIDS Relief.
But this time, we sat down with Botswana and we said, okay, what are your priorities? The government identified six major areas and the United States came up with a way to support them. And those six areas are supporting disease surveillance and detection so that Botswana can identify emerging health threats quickly and respond to them quickly. It's building and strengthening the supply chain, which of course has been in the news significantly in recent past.
We're providing money to hire frontline workers who can be out, and they're the ones who are in the communities actually doing things that impact people day to day on the frontline.
We're looking at strengthening Botswana's health system because we certainly recognise that a modern health delivery system requires information systems so that doctors and practitioners can have real-time information about their patients and can do things like tele-consultations and the like. So Botswana has identified this as an important area of where they wanted our help, and we're delighted to be able to do so.
We're also looking at ways that we can support laboratory systems and Botswana has really an outstanding record of building their own lab capacities. United States has been, I think, an important partner, and we're going to continue to do that going forward. So these are just some of the ways that we've been doing this.
This is an MOU that will cover the next three years and probably a couple of years after that, and it's really important. I think it's testimony to the enduring and significant commitment the United States has to the health sector. Over the past 25 years or so, through the PEPFAR programme, the United States has invested about $1.2 billion, in the health sector in Botswana, and we have been really impressed with what Botswana has been able to do as a result of the leadership, the hard work, the difficult choices that Botswana had to make and that Botswana committed to themselves.
They've been able to really turn the corner on the HIV epidemic, there's no question about it. Botswana is a world leader in that realm, and I think the United States has helped to achieve some of those results.
We anticipate a time here in the near future where Botswana will no longer need our assistance. Botswana definitely has the human capital, the resources, the people necessary to manage this by itself without the United States being a significant player, and so we anticipate sort of sunsetting our assistance here in the next few years, but we're very confident Botswana will be able to take this on entirely going forward. So that's just one way we've been working with Botswana.
Mmegi: Zooming into the health cooperation programme, there was concern expressed locally and also around the continent regarding the protection of privacy, particularly personal health data. Do these agreements impinge or in any way harm the citizens' rights to privacy?
Van Vranken: Absolutely not, absolutely not. I think it's important to understand that everything that the United States does in Botswana, whether it's in health, whether it's in economic development, whether it's in cooperation with the Botswana Defence Force, we do at the invitation of the Government of Botswana. We also do it in conformance with all of the laws in Botswana.
Now, in this case, the data sharing agreement that we signed with Botswana is 100 percent in compliance and in conformance with the 2024 Botswana Data Protection Act. So it's consistent with Botswana laws. It's been reviewed by the Attorney General, it's been reviewed by the Ministry of Health and they are confident, as am I, that it's not going to compromise anybody's health data.
I think it's important to understand that this data agreement, is not going to take anyone’s individual health information and send it to the United States. That's not what it's about.
It aggregates data. So it says, for example, maybe it might say, in Ngamiland in April, we tested 1,600 people, and here are the results, not for the individuals, but of those 1,600, three tested positive for malaria, nine tested positive for HIV, and seven tested positive for TB.
And so it's that kind of aggregated data that's being shared, but not individual data, nothing that provides any kind of personally identifiable information. That is all the government and the individuals' information.
Mmegi: The US has announced a shift in its engagement with Africa, from aid towards economic partnership. What does this mean for long-term partners such as Botswana?
That's a great question. So the United States has heard from Africa, it's heard from Botswana that it doesn't want assistance, it wants trade, it wants a trading partnership. And so the United States is absolutely committed to finding deals that are meaningful and address the priorities of Botswana and the United States. The best deal is one that benefits both partners.
My president, President Trump, as I'm sure you're aware, is a businessman. He's someone who likes to make deals. He recognises that the best relationships are based on mutually beneficial arrangements and so that's what we want to try to commit to and that's what our government is working towards.
I want to make one other point, however. The United States remains an incredibly generous donor. We are by far the largest bilateral donor in the world, even after the recalibration of our assistance programmes worldwide. We recognize that there are places and needs for humanitarian assistance. The United States is incredibly generous, and we will continue to be so
Mmegi: Are you able to speak directly to sectors of interest for economic partnerships between the U.S. and Botswana?
Van Vranken: I can tell you that the United States remains the largest consumer of products from Botswana. One is diamonds and about 54 percent of all gemstone diamonds in the world are consumed in the United States, are purchased by American consumers.
By my estimate, about 70 percent of Botswana's diamonds are purchased in the United States, sold in the United States.
In addition to that, American citizens who visit Botswana as tourists remain the most important source or the leading source of income for the tourism industry, which is a very significant contributor to Botswana's economy.
We want to expand that. We see there's opportunities in other mining actions here. For example, in the mining of critical minerals, in the mining of copper, of iron, of coal, of a number of other resources. God has bestowed an incredible abundance of richness on Botswana in the form of minerals and Botswana has done incredibly well to exploit those with diamonds and it's emerging with copper as well.
We see this as a real opportunity. The United States has a need for these as a consumer nation and also as a partner to help to develop these resources. There are a number of American firms who are either actually doing work right now in Botswana or who are very interested in breaking into Botswana's market for minerals, critical minerals and base minerals as well.
I'm optimistic and I see there's a ton of opportunity here.
Mmegi: Speaking of critical minerals, what is the United States’ view of partnering with Botswana in these critical minerals development? Will we see any further direct exploration and development by the US. companies?
Van Vranken: Indeed, we will. American firms are active in the market. We are both in mining and in prospecting. There are a lot of ambitious, very creative and ingenious firms who want to find and help Botswana exploit these incredible resources.
I'm an optimist and I think you're going to see more American companies active here in the market and I deal with them almost on a daily basis.
Mmegi: Does the US have any intentions of establishing a formal strategic partnership agreement with Botswana on critical minerals, such as the one signed with the DRC in December 2025?
Van Vranken: That's a really good question! The United States has signed a number of these Memoranda of Understanding with other African countries. I think that we would love to be able to conclude something here. That's not something I'm leading for the United States, but we do have people who are in negotiation, in discussion with Botswana to come to an agreement on that.
I'm optimistic that we'll find a way to make a mutually beneficial agreement between Botswana and the United States in the area of critical minerals and mineral resources.