Botswana's President Duma Boko Launches Okavango Circle

Botswana President Duma Boko launched the Okavango Circle on September 22, 2026, in New York, aiming to shift Africa’s role from a raw material exporter to a key player in critical minerals, technology, and finance industries during the 81st United Nations General Assembly.

For decades, Africa has supplied the minerals powering industries across the globe while the resulting wealth, technology, and industrial development accumulated elsewhere. Botswana President Duma Boko challenged this historical imbalance during the official launch at the Waldorf Astoria on the sidelines of the 81st United Nations General Assembly.

Current mineral trade with Africa was structured to merely extract ore and cart it away raw to places outside Africa.

President Duma Boko, President of Botswana

The Okavango Circle brings together governments, industry leaders, investors, researchers, and technology experts. Rather than treating critical minerals, artificial intelligence, emerging technologies, and finance as separate tracks, the initiative focuses on how these systems intersect and demand new governance, according to Ufo Eric-Atuanya, Co-Chair of the Okavango Circle Steering Committee and President of Rimsom Global.

Global Launch at UNGA 81

The September 22, 2026, launch drew prominent figures to New York, including Botswana’s Minister of Minerals and Energy, Bogolo Kenewendo, and Eswatini’s Minister of Information, Communications and Technology, Senator Savannah Maziya. The platform intends to foster dialogue on responsible mineral development, beneficiation, industrial transformation, local value addition, and investment frameworks.

By uniting these discussions, the Circle seeks to help African governments engage global partners with better coordination and a sharper understanding of economic opportunities and policy challenges. President Boko emphasized the importance of shifting the narrative away from external capitals.

Often conversations about Africa take place away from Africa outside of Africa. In part, this initiative will ensure that the African story, evolves, is shaped, is refined, and is disseminated from Africa itself.

President Duma Boko, President of Botswana

Botswana’s Role and Future Engagements

Inspired by the Okavango Delta, the initiative blends an unmistakable African identity with an international mandate. President Boko encouraged the organization to make Botswana a focal point for future engagements and welcomed the prospect of hosting influential international gatherings on African soil.

Minister Bogolo Kenewendo welcomed the platform as an avenue for stakeholders to examine strategic challenges surrounding critical minerals and emerging technologies. Ultimately, the Okavango Circle aims to secure a stronger hand for Africa in determining who develops its resources, captures their value, and shapes the economic future they create.