Mrs. Mamoratehi Bokopane:

I thank esteemed committee members, your excellencies and colleagues. I am delighted to have this opportunity to briefly highlight the relationship between Lesotho and Ireland. Lesotho is a landlocked country surrounded entirely by South Africa, which is our only neighbour. It is approximately 30,000 sq. km, three quarters of which are mountains. That is why Lesotho is known affectionately as the kingdom in the sky, which name was given to us by Ireland.

Lesotho became a colony of the United Kingdom from 1886 as a protectorate. Lesotho remained a separate country from South Africa. While South Africa was still under apartheid rule, Lesotho gained her independence in 1966.

Lesotho-Ireland relations started informally almost two centuries ago when an Irish mapper and missionary called Joseph Orpen arrived at Thaba-Bosiu, the home state of our founder King Moshoeshoe I, to be his adviser. When Lesotho got independence from UK in 1966, the Irish Government sent technocrats to assist the new government in establishing government departments for finance, health and education.

From 1966 to 2005, Lesotho's mission in Denmark also covered Ireland. Ireland officially opened her embassy in Lesotho in 1975, which means there have now been almost 50 years of formal relations. Lesotho moved her embassy from Denmark to Ireland in 2005 to cement cordial diplomatic relations. The relationship between our two states also saw Ireland offering human, financial and material support to a young nation by building schools, hospitals and clinics, and offering many scholarships to Lesotho students to study in several universities in Ireland and other countries.

Ireland has historically played a significant role in helping African states gain their independence from the former colonial masters. Perhaps Ireland understood the situation of being under colonial rule and the fact that she fought hard for her own independence from Britain. We can safely say that the Irish militancy helped them to understand the wars of independence in Africa.

Today, Ireland is playing a big role in Africa in the areas of development assistance and engaging in meaningful trade with African countries. We are also observing Irish involvement in world affairs where the Government of the people of the Republic of Ireland has condemned in no uncertain terms the wars in Ukraine and Gaza. We also observe the Irish involvement in peacekeeping missions in the Mediterranean area and Africa. Ireland needs our support.