20 Jun 2017

Outgoing Ambassador of Germany, Mr Rolf Ulrich says he has enjoyed his four-year stay in the country, as he was able to visit the four corners of Botswana.

Speaking at his farewell reception at Avani Hotel in Gaborone on Monday, Mr Ulrich said coming to Botswana upon his departure from his post in northern Iraq made it possible to meet easy going, friendly people and wonderful colleagues to work with.

He noted that during his stay here, they have travelled across the four corners of Botswana and enjoyed the country and its wildlife, with a lot of memories to share with friends and family back in Germany.

The diplomat noted that he was privileged to live and work in Botswana through 2016 to celebrate BOT50, noting that the festivities marked impressive achievements of the country which came from far behind at the time, and caught up with a number of countries in the world to become an upper middle-income country.

He further noted that he was given a chance to take part in the elections of 2014, as an international observer, adding that he could see with his own eyes and through those of other colleagues that Botswana routinely operated free and fair elections.

Ambassador Ulrich said BOT50 gave reason to also highlight the challenges that remained such as diversification of the economy, inclusive growth, job creation and poverty eradication, particularly in remote areas of the country.

He noted that “that is where Botswana will need and deserves the continued support of the international community.”

Ambassador Ulrich said bilateral relations between Botswana and Germany continued to flourish in recent years, adding that in 2016 Dr Maria Bohmer, Minister of State in the Federal Foreign Office and Mr Gunter Nooke, personal Africa representative of the Chancellor Angela Merkel, made it to Botswana and the latter representing Germany at the 50th anniversary of independence celebrations.

In addition, he said President Lt Gen. Dr Seretse Khama Ian Khama visited Germany in March this year to represent Botswana at the ITB in Berlin, the world’s largest travel and tourism exhibition.

“Talking about the German Embassy’s work in Gaborone, I shall not forget to mention the strong cooperation with SADC and its headquarters in Gaborone.

We appreciate the gains made during the year that Botswana exercised the chair of SADC. This cooperation includes the preservation of biodiversity and wildlife protection as well as the trans-boundary management of water resources as exemplified by various river basin commissions,” he said.

For his part, acting Minister of International Affairs and Cooperation, Mr Edwin Batshu said during Mr Ulrich’s stay in Botswana the country witnessed increased number of activities as a result of his efforts to deepen cooperation in areas such as human resource development; environment and natural resource conservation, trade and investment among others.

Minister Batshu further applauded him for the role that he played in strengthening cooperation in the technical and vocational education.

He said in 2015, they witnessed the launching of a new Technical and Vocational Education Programme by GIZ in partnership with the then Ministry of Education and Skills Development as well as the Botswana Chamber of Mines. BOPA