It was under Mogae that a fully-fledged Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation was created from what was essentially a department of foreign affairs. Merafhe gave the ministry a high profile, leading to the increase in Botswana's diplomatic missions, particularly in Africa and Asia. Similarly more countries opened resident high commissions and embassies in Gaborone. The presence of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) headquarters and the centralisation of that regional organisation's operations in Botswana also gave impetus to more countries setting up representation here. On the other hand we lost valued and long-time development partner, Sweden.
On the whole, Botswana became positively visible on both the continental and international stages. The Mogae administration effectively warded off the campaign that sought to unfairly characterise Botswana diamonds as "blood diamonds". Together with other diamond-producing countries, particularly in the region, a credible mechanism to sift blood diamonds from clean ones was set up through what has become known as the Kimberly Process. The Mogae administration simultaneously embarked on its 'diamond for development' campaign, which effectively discounted and discredited the noxious one, spearheaded by Global Witness that tried to paint all diamond production as a source of conflict in Africa.
