4 November 2009
The Crown Prince of Norway, Prince Haakon, is scheduled to visit Botswana on a goodwill mission next week.
According to a press release from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Norwegian prince, who is UNDP's global goodwill ambassador, will visit local projects implemented by the organisation in collaboration with the Government of Botswana in an endeavour to help the country achieve Millennium Development Goals (MGDs), especially in the area of environmental conservation and projects aimed at mitigating the impact of climate change. The Norwegian crown prince will arrive in Botswana on Wednesday and then pay courtesy visits to the Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Phandu Skelemani and the Vice President Lieutenant General Mompati Morafhe respectively on the same day.
On Thursday, he will proceed to Maun before flying to Shakawe to visit a fishery 10 kilometres outside the village in Samochina. He is expected to observe local fishing practices and challenges of balancing economies and ecology in fisheries in the Okavango Delta after which he will go on a fishing boat trip.
Later in the day, Prince Haakon will visit Xakanaxa Lodge to see threats posed by salvinia in the Okavango Delta and the ongoing efforts to combat this threat.
On Friday, he will visit the University of Botswana's Harry Oppenheimer Okavango Research Centre to learn more about the ongoing research, the management of the natural resources in the Okavango Delta and the implications to the people depending on them before returning to Gaborone where he will catch a flight home later in the day.
According to the press statement, Crown Prince Haakon was appointed UNDP goodwill ambassador in 2003 and has since been visiting several UNDP country offices in countries such as Burundi, Guatamela, Sierra Leone, Cambodia and Tanzania.
Advocating for progress towards the MGDs is at the core of his UNDP engagement. He has used his ambassadorial status to express that even though development is a long-term process, the international community has to live up to the promise of achieving the goals by 2014.
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it is good to see that Norway and Botswana share a diplomatic relationship. i am a Motswana leaving and working in Norway, and there is a lot that both countries can learn from each other.