Team

Margit Hellwig-Boette

All People

  • Discipline:

    German Ambassador to Botswana

  • Country:

    Germany

Botswana‘s biggest assets may not be her diamonds and elephants but her talented and creative youth. I would like to find out more about the entrepreneurial mindset of young Batswana, their ideas on how to drive the economy and solve the most pressing problems of their country – and how to support them with my own experience! Margit Hellwig-Boette when presenting her credentials to President Dr. Mokgweetsi Masisi on 13th October 2020

Biography: Margit Hellwig-Boette has been the German Ambassador to Botswana and Special Representative to SADC since August 2020. Previously, she headed the German Consulate General in Bangalore, India’s Startup capital and IT hub. That’s where she discovered her passion for startups, digitalization, and entrepreneurship. Earlier on, she served as the German Ambassador to Kenya, Somalia and the Seychelles, as Permanent Representative to UNEP and UN Habitat, and as Deputy Ambassador at the German Embassy in Conakry (Guinea). She also gathered professional experience outside Government, working as Foreign Policy Advisor for the German Parliament and as researcher for the Working Group on Africa and the Middle East of the German Institute for International and Security Affairs.

 

Current Position(s):

  • Ambassador to Botswana, since August 2020

Past Position(s)

• Consul General in Bangalore, India, promoting business relations between Germany and
India (2016-2020).
• Head of Division for UN Personnel Policy, German Foreign Office, Berlin, in charge of
strategic planning and human resources in the UN system (2015-2016).
• Head of Division in UN Department, German Foreign Office, Berlin, coordinating political
issues in the UN General Assembly (2014/2015).
• Visiting Fellow, German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP), Research
Unit Middle East and Africa (2013-2014).
• Ambassador to Kenya, also accredited to Somalia and Seychelles, and Permanent
Representative to the UN Environment Program and UN Habitat (2009-2013).
• Head of Division – Comprehensive Security Structures in Europe, German Foreign Office,
Berlin, shaping German positions in the Organization of Security and Cooperation in Europe
and the Council of Europe and overseeing the Centre for International Peacekeeping
Operations (2006-2009).
• Senior Foreign Policy Advisor to the Social Democratic Party’s Parliamentary Group in the
German Bundestag, Berlin shaping its policy regarding transatlantic relations, European
Security Policy, Development and Security Policy in Africa (1999-2006).
• Deputy Head – Press Office of the German Embassy in London (1997-1999).
• Desk Officer – Parliamentary Liaison Unit in German Foreign Office in Bonn coordinating
foreign policy between the Foreign Office and the German Bundestag (1993-1997).
• Deputy Head – German Embassy Conakry, Guinea (1991-1993).