Your Majesty King Letsie III

  The Right Honourable the Prime Minister

  Our Host, Mr.  Consul  General

  Honourable  President  of  the Senate

  Honourable Speaker of the  National  Assembly

  Your  Lordship the  Chief  Justice

Honourable Deputy Prime Minister

Honourable  Ministers

Honourable Judge of the Court of Appeal

Honourable Judges of the High Court

Your  Excellencies  Head  of  Diplomaic  Mission,

Distinguished  Ladies & Gentlemen,  

When a 14 century anonymous poet threw a proud line of poetry:

                         I am of  Ireland,

                        And of the holy land

                        Of Ireland.                         

                        Good sir, pray I thee,

                        For of saint charity,

                        Come and dance with me

                        In  Ireland;

he was full of happiness and pride for his beloved country, Ireland.

  I   am   indeed   honoured    and    privileged    to join    you, Mr. Consul   General   and   the   Irish   Community in Lesotho, on the   occasion   that    marks    the   Commemoration    of   St. Patrick’s   Day.    On behalf   of   the    Government and People of   Lesotho and   also   on   my own behalf,  I wish to convey, through you,  our congratulations   and   warm   greetings   to  the   President of Ireland and our   best   wishes   to  the People and   Government of your beautiful country on this   memorable and auspicious  occasion. 

The beginning of the year   2003 saw the elevation of the bilateral   relationship   between   our two countries to a higher level of a fully-fledged   diplomatic    relationship.   This development gives us another justifiable cause   for celebration as it marks a culmination of an intensive collaboration   between   our   two   countries and peoples, and we can look at both the fruitful past record   of   our   bilateral relationship and its future prospects with satisfaction and optimism. 

Over the years, your beloved country, Ireland, has graduated from relative poverty to a vibrant and growing economy.  The government and people of Ireland deserve a pat on the shoulder and hearty congratulations for this bold progress.

Also, over the years, the government and people of Ireland have been a dependable partner.  In education and in health, in rural development and in agriculture, in human resources development and in capacity building – in all these and a lot more, Ireland has travelled the journey of development with Lesotho. Fittingly, His   Majesty’s   Government will be establishing   diplomatic   presence   in Ireland in the near future.

Mr. Consul General

  As you will agree, the   peaceful   and   successful   general elections that were held in   this country on   the   25^th May 2002   have opened a new chapter in the history of our country.  The   inclusive nature of our Parliament, with representation from no less than   ten political parties   gives us a high   sense of optimism that the people of Lesotho can now achieve and enjoy political stability, social   progress, economic   development and lasting   peace.

As   a   Government, we   stand committed and   resolved to meet head-on the post-election expectations and challenges that confront our country.   Naturally, it is our expectation and   fervent hope that our   development partners will continue to extent a helping hand in   order that we do achieve our development goals and aspirations.  Amongst the challenges we confront, I would like to highlight that of unemployment, the   HIV/AIDS   pandemic   and famine that are currently gripping   this   country.  The Government and all the other stakeholders are embarking on measures to combat these ills with the assistance of our development partners.

  We will continue to embark   on    economic   reforms that make Lesotho attractive to foreign direct investment so as to enable us make a dent on unemployment. Also, we shall continue with   the ongoing programme of providing free primary education as we believe that education is the right of every   Mosotho child and that investing in people is key to socio-economic development.

  Mr. Consul General,