Botswanian president promotes "development diamonds"

Botswanian diamonds are "development diamonds" and when people buy diamonds they are supporting education, helping provide clean water and fight against AIDS in the Southern African country, Botswanian President Festus Mogae said.

"We are the most diamond dependant country and also a peaceful country, ours are not conflict diamonds but development diamonds," Mogae said in an interview with Xinhua on Monday.

Diamonds account for 30 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP) of Botswana which produced 31.9 million carats last year.

However, the president said he was recently worried about an upcoming film "the Blood Diamond" that might link the precious stone with conflicts and blood.

The theme of the film was based on what had happened in some other African countries, but in Botswana there had been no conflict, he said.

The president, who is scheduled to attend the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) in Beijing in November, said he was glad that Botswana had been approved by China as a destination for its tourists.

"We want the Xinhua News Agency to tell the Chinese people they are free to come here, the government of China allows them, we are looking for them to come as tourists, because we have tourism products here," Mogae said.

Botswana boasts the largest population of elephants, the splendid waterways of the Okavango Delta, and the Kalahari Sand Dunes.

FOCAC is a mechanism for collective dialogue and cooperation jointly established by China and African nations to cope with new challenges and facilitate common development.

Since the launch of the FOCAC in 2000, two ministerial conferences have been held in Beijing and Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia.

Source: Xinhua