The Holy See and the Republic of Botswana, "wishing to promote relations of mutual friendship and to develop international cooperation", decided "by mutual consent" to establish diplomatic relations between them, with the Holy See setting up an apostolic nunciature and the Republic of Botswana setting up an Embassy, as provided by the Convention of Vienna on Diplomatic Relations of 18th April 1961. The news has been relayed by the Vatican Newsroom, which stated that today, November 4th, in the premises of the papal Embassy to Pretoria (South Africa), the parties exchanged the verbal notes and signed the memorandum for the establishment of diplomatic relations between the Holy See and the Republic of Botswana. Botswana is a presidential republic and a member of Commonwealth since September 30th 1966. Since April 1st 2008, the president of the Republic has been Seretse Khama Ian Khama. It has a population of approximately 1,586,000. Botswana states the release has been a multi-party democracy since its independence. Because of its political stability, social peace, a cautious tax policy and a prudent management of public finance, it is considered one of the stables countries in Africa, not least for the profits it gets from its diamonds.
