It was the first time that the External Affairs Minister hosted any other country’s foreign minister in Ektanagar, Kevadia

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar met with Minister of International Affairs and Cooperation of Botswana Lemogang Kwape on Wednesday in what was the first meeting of its kind held at Ektanagar in Kevadia, Gujarat.

Talking about the uniqueness of the meeting, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said, "This was the first meeting for any foreign minister with EAM in Ektanagar, Kevadia."

EAM Jaishankar also took to Twitter to write about his meeting with his Botswana counterpart.

He wrote, "First occasion to host a Foreign Minister in Ekta Nagar,Kevadia. A warm meeting with FM Lemogang Kwape of Botswana. Particularly apt to meet in Gujarat, since diamonds and pharma are so salient in our ties."

He added, "Discussed expanding our development cooperation. Appreciated the insights on regional developments."

During the meeting, both ministers reviewed the current state of bilateral relations between the two countries. They explored means to further strengthen these relations in areas such as health, trade and investment, defense, economic cooperation, training and capacity building among others, the MEA said.

Regional and international issues of mutual concern including cooperation in multilateral fora such as the UN were also discussed

It was also decided to reinvigorate the existing institutional mechanisms and conduct these meetings at the earliest mutually convenient dates, including the meeting of the ministerial Joint Commission, the MEA added.

According to the MEA, relations between India and Botswana are friendly and backed by strong people-to-people connections. It also mentioned that there are thought to be around 6000 Indians living in Botswana and that the two countries trade with each other for roughly USD 806 million.