 |
The Embassy of Botswana in Berlin |
Contact
Address: Lennestraße 5, 10785 Berlin
Tel.: +49 30 8871 950 10
Fax: +49 30 8871 950 12
E-mail: info@embassyofbotswana.de
The Ambassador
Amb. Massekgoa Masire-Mwamba
Massekgoa Masire-Mwamba is a mother of three and is married to Trevor Mwamba, former bishop of Botswana and rector of St Margaret’s Church in Barking, East London.
From 1986 to 2002 she worked as an assistant engineer for the group manager for the Botswana Telecommunications Corporation. From 1998 to 1999, she was also Business Developer for the Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation in London, with responsibility for the Africa and Caribbean region. Between 2003 and 2007, she served as Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Botswana Export Development and Investment Authority before serving as Deputy Secretary General for the Commonwealth Secretariat, the central institution of the Commonwealth of Nations, from 2008 to 2014, worked in London. The following year she was nominated for the post of Secretary-General of Africa in the Malta elections, but was defeated in the election by Patricia Scotland from Dominica by two votes.
From 2014 to 2018, she was Senior Consultant for the Customs Union of Southern Africa (SACU) in Namibia and Managing Director of Crown Agents and Consultant for the Communication Strategy of COWI, a national spatial development plan for Botswana on behalf of the Government of Botswana. She led the 2017 election of Commonwealth election observers in Lesotho and was on the National Democratic Institute’s December 2016 Presidential Election Observer Team in Ghana.
Since 8 February 2019, she has been accredited as an ambassador for Botswana in Berlin. She was appointed as the second ambassador of Ambassador Cornelia Moremi to the Federal Republic of Germany.
History
Botswana and the Federal Republic of Germany have maintained cordial relations since the establishment of formal diplomatic ties between the two countries in 1974. The presence of a resident German Embassy in Gaborone has contributed highly to the growth of bilateral relations, particularly in the areas of Wildlife, Geological Survey, HIV/AIDS, and Vocational Education.
As a country of considerable economic stability and a well established democratic tradition, Botswana is an important pillar in the Southern African Development Community (SADC). Botswana has been classified as “Middle-Income-Country” due to its unique development achievements within the Sub-Sahara region. The German development cooperation mainly focuses on the integration process of SADC.
Reciprocal high-level visits have strengthened the bilateral political dialogue. Former Botswana President, Festus Mogae, visited Germany several times and former German President, Horst Köhler, was in Botswana on a state visit in April 2006. The two statesmen met again at the 2nd forum of the Partnership for Africa Initiative in in January 2007.
