First Batswana ambassador accredited |25 September 2013

The first ambassador from the South African republic of Botswana, John Moreti, presented his credentials to President James Michel at State House yesterday morning.

The newly accredited ambassador told the local press that Botswana and Seychelles are already cooperating in the field of education whereby a group of Seychellois students are studying in Gaborone, the country’s capital.
 
He added that the friendly relations which presently exist between his country and Seychelles will serve as a platform for the further development of bilateral relations, primarily in the sectors of tourism and culture.

On a regional and multilateral note, the Batswana ambassador said that our two countries can share an integrated agenda within the South African Development Community (SADC) - of which the headquarters are based in his country’s capital - and the African Union (AU) on democracy and continental integration issues.
 
Based in the Kenyan capital Nairobi where he heads his country’s diplomatic mission, Mr Moreti is also ambassador to Uganda, Burundi, Rwanda, Sudan and South Sudan and Botswana’s permanent representative to the United Nations Environment Programme (Unep) and the UN HABITAT.

Before being named his country’s ambassador to Seychelles, he has held different government positions in his home country including deputy clerk to the cabinet, deputy private secretary to the vice-president and private secretary to the Minister for Foreign Affairs. He also served as counselor and deputy head of mission in the embassy of Botswana in Washington between 2002 and 2006.
During his stay in Seychelles, Ambassador Moreti will also call on the Speaker of the National Assembly, Dr Patrick Herminie, at his Ile du Port office.


Known for its strong democratic traditions, Botswana is a landlocked country surrounded by South Africa, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Since gaining its independence from Britain in 1966, the seventy percent desert territory which however owns vast resources such as diamonds, gold, uranium and copper, has developed into one of the fastest growing economies in the world.
 The local people, a population of over two million, are known as the Batswana.