More information about Botswana is available on the Botswana Page and from other Department of State publications and other sources listed at the end of this fact sheet.

U.S.-BOTSWANA RELATIONS

The United States considers Botswana an excellent democratic partner. Since independence, Botswana has consistently maintained a democratic government, responsibly managed its natural resources, and invested in its people and infrastructure.

The bilateral relationship is strong and grounded in a shared commitment to good governance and inclusion. The United States and Botswana also share an interest in ensuring Botswana’s continued success through economic diversification.

Top priorities for U.S. involvement in Botswana include: our shared commitment to combat HIV/AIDS; the promotion of human rights and inclusion for under-represented groups; the country’s economic diversification and energy security; defense cooperation; and, support for Botswana’s conservation strategy, particularly its efforts to combat wildlife trafficking.

U.S. Assistance to Botswana

Since 2004, Botswana has received almost $1.1 billion in support from the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) which promotes sustainable, high-quality, cost-effective HIV/AIDS prevention, treatment, and care interventions.

In a whole of government approach, the United States partners with Botswana in a comprehensive HIV/AIDS program linking communities to health facilities to reduce new infections and put HIV positive people on life saving treatment in order to achieve epidemic control. Together, the United States and Botswana are leading the way in community-based approaches to addressing and controlling the epidemic.

In Fiscal Year 2021, PEPFAR provided approximately $78 million in programs and commodity support to Botswana. The United States has also provided $12.4 million in bilateral assistance to help Botswana address COVID-19 since the pandemic began.

The Governments of Botswana and the United States jointly operate the International Law Enforcement Academy (ILEA) in Gaborone. Through trainings and other engagements, ILEA bolsters criminal justice actors’ capacity and provides a platform to establish partnerships between U.S. federal law enforcement agencies and their counterparts. ILEA’s trainings are regionally focused. There are regional academies in Accra, Bangkok, Budapest, Gaborone, and San Salvador. These five academies train mid to senior-level officers on a range of transnational criminal issues. The sixth academy, ILEA Roswell, engages senior and executive level personnel in symposia to develop leadership skills. ILEA graduates are part of a network of 70,000 alumni worldwide. ILEA Gaborone has trained 13,000 officials, including 2,160 Botswanan officials since opening in 2001. Beyond ILEA, the United States seeks to support Botswana’s interest in strengthening institutional capacity through a number of civilian and military professional exchanges, particularly professional military education. Botswana partners with North Carolina in the National Guard State Partnership Program.

The U.S. International Board of Broadcasters operates a major Voice of America relay station in Botswana serving most of the African continent.

Bilateral Economic Relations

The United States is the largest destination market for Botswana’s chief export, rough diamonds, and Americans are the largest component of foreign safari tourists, a service export for Botswana. Botswana is eligible for preferential trade benefits under the African Growth and Opportunity Act.

Botswana signed a Trade, Investment, and Development Cooperative Agreement (TIDCA) with the United States via the Southern African Customs Union in 2008. The TIDCA establishes a forum for consultative discussions, cooperative work, and possible agreements on a wide range of trade issues, with a special focus on customs and trade facilitation, technical barriers to trade, sanitary and phytosanitary measures, and trade and investment promotion.

In energy, we are partnering with Botswana to establish it as a major solar energy producer, consumer, and exporter in the region, providing the country with renewable energy security. In 2021, the United States signed a memorandum of intent to launch the Mega Solar partnership between Power Africa and the Governments of the Republics of Botswana and Namibia, the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (World Bank), and the African Development Bank. This milestone agreement supports the development of Southern Africa’s largest solar-generation project, which is projected to result in 2-5 gigawatts of solar power. In 2019, Botswana joined the United States, Australia, Canada and Peru as a founding partner of the Energy Resource Governance Initiative (ERGI) serving as a global example of how to engage in sustainable extraction.

Botswana’s Membership in International Organizations

Botswana is a member of the African Development Bank Group, the African Union, the Food and Agriculture Organization, the International Atomic Energy Agency, the International Civil Aviation Organization, the International Criminal Police Organization, the International Development Association, International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, the International Finance Corporation, the International Fund for Agricultural Development, the International Labor Organization, the International Monetary Fund, the International Olympic Committee, the International Organization for Standardization, the International Telecommunication Union, the Nonaligned

Movement, the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, the Southern African Customs Union, the Southern African Development Community, the United Nations, the Universal Postal Union, the World Customs Organization, the World Federation of Trade Unions, the World Health Organization, the World Intellectual Property Organization, the World Bank, and the World Trade Organization.

Bilateral Representation Principal embassy officials are listed in the Department’s Key Officers List. The ambassador is concurrently accredited to the Southern African Development Community, which is headquartered in Gaborone. Botswana maintains an embassy in the United States at 1531-1533 New Hampshire Avenue NW, Washington DC 20036 (tel. 202-244-4990).

More information about Botswana is available from the Department of State and other sources, some of which are listed here:

CIA World Factbook Botswana Page  
U.S. Embassy
USAID Botswana Page 
History of U.S. Relations With Botswana
Office of the U.S. Trade Representative Country Page 
U.S. Census Bureau Foreign Trade Statistics 
Export.gov International Offices Page 
Travel Information

U.S. Department of State

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