New Permanent Representative of Botswana Presents Credentials

(Based on information provided by the Protocol and Liaison Service)

The new Permanent Representative of Botswana to the United Nations, Collen Vixen Kelapile, presented his credentials to UN Secretary‑General António Guterres today.

Before his latest appointment, Mr. Kelapile was Chief of Staff to the Executive Secretary of the Addis Ababa‑based United Nations Economic Commission for Africa between 2014 and 2018.

From 2013 to 2014, Mr. Kelapile was the Deputy Director in the Department of Africa and the Middle East at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation in Gaborone.  As a member of the United Nations Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions beginning in 2004, he served as Vice‑Chairman from 2008 to 2010 and as Chairman from 2011 until 2012.

Before that, Mr. Kelapile was posted at Botswana’s Permanent Mission to the United Nations in New York from 1998 to 2003, serving in a number of positions, including First Secretary and Counsellor.  He joined the foreign service in 1995.

Mr. Kelapile holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Botswana.

He is married and has one child.