/ 20 October 2008

SA, Botswana eye military cooperation

Military cooperation between South Africa and Botswana will be high on the agenda at a four-day meeting between the two countries that starts in Cape Town on Tuesday.

The Joint Permanent Commission on Defence and Security (JPCDS) will also look at cooperation between the two countries to combat firearms and drug smuggling, and human trafficking, South Africa’s Defence Ministry said in a statement on Monday.

Defence Minister Charles Nqakula and his Botswana counterpart, Dikgakgamatso Seretse, will lead their respective delegations at the eighth session of the JPCDS, which first met in 2000.

”Issues such as military-to-military cooperation between the governments of … South Africa and Botswana will be high on the agenda.

”[It] is further expected to discuss plans and security arrangements to ensure a successful hosting by South Africa of the 2010 Fifa World Cup,” the ministry said. — Sapa