Press Release
His Excellency Mr. Amrit Bahadur Rai, non-resident Ambassador of Nepal to the Republic of Botswana presented his Letters of Credence to His Excellency Lieutenant General Dr. Seretse Khana Ian Khama, President of the Republic of Botswana amid a special ceremony organized at the President Office, Gaborone, capital city of Botswana on 26th of April 2016.
During the ceremony, Ambassador Rai conveyed cordial greetings and best wishes from the Right Honourable President Mrs. Bidhya Devi Bhandari and Right Honourable Prime Minister Khadga Prasad Oli as well as the people of Nepal for the personal health and happiness of the President and the continued progress and prosperity of the people of Botswana. Her Excellency Hon. Dr. Pelonomi Venson-Moitoi Minister for Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of the Republic of Botswana and other high dignitaries were present on the occasion.
Following the presentation of the credentials, Ambassador Rai was invited for a brief meeting with His Excellency the President Khama. During the meeting, His Excellency the President expressed his best wishes and the solidarity of the Government as well as the and the Ambassador expressed satisfaction on excellent state of relations subsisting between two countries and discussed about further exploration of areas for mutual cooperation on trade, investment, cultural and economic avenues.
During the meeting Ambassador Rai also briefed His Excellency the President Khama about the political development in Nepal including the promulgation of new constitution on 20 September 2015 through the Constitution Assembly. Briefing about the post-earthquake reconstruction efforts, Ambassador Rai mentioned that the Government of Nepal has started reconstruction of the damaged infrastructure as a priority matter.In response, His Excellency the President expressed his deep sorrow over the huge loss of life and properties caused by the earthquake and asked Ambassador Rai to convey his best wishes and deep solidarity of the Government and people of the Republic of Botswana with the Government and the people of Nepal in their efforts towards early reconstruction.
Earlier in the morning, Ambassador Rai paid a courtesy call on Her Excellency Hon. Dr. Pelonomi Venson-Moitoi,Minister for Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of the Republic of Botswana and views were exchanged on a range of issues pertaining to bilateral relations and cooperation. They have also discussed the ways and means of protection and promotions of broader interest of Land-locked Developing States for making their trade-in-transit cost-effective while doing international trade by metamorphosing the landlocked situation into land-linked opportunities through the development of effective and efficient connectivity.The verisimilitude between Nepal and Botswana is the landlocked position of geography. Both are the members of Land-locked Developing Countries (LLDCs), a recognized group of states by the United Nations which are in need of special requirement due to the challenges faced by their land-locked position. Botswana conducts its international trade mainly through port of Durban, South Africa and port of Walvis Bay, Namibia. Botswana is a success story of rapid economic development as it has successfully managed to maintain high economic growth rate since independence in 1966 thus it has transformed itself from one of the poorest countries in the world to an upper middle-income country. Diamond mining is the major source of export earnings of Botswana.
Embassy of Nepal
Pretoria, South Africa
26 April 2016