Pretoria- Bilateral cooperation, economic relations and international politics are expected to be high on the agenda on Tuesday when President Jacob Zuma hosts his Botswana counterpart Seretse Khama Ian Khama.
Zuma will roll out the red carpet for Khama who will be treated to the religious ceremonial guard and 21-gun salute in the flower-bedecked Union Buildings.
During the visit, the two leaders are expected to discuss bilateral cooperation and regional and multilateral matters. They are further expected to share and exchange views on political development in the region.
This is a very important visit, in that it will allow Khama to not only engage South Africa but also to use the country to open new channels with the Zimbabwean government. Relations between Botswana and Zimbabwe have been sour due to Khama's outspoken criticism of President Robert Mugabe.
Botswana was the only SADC country that asked the regional body to confront Mugabe head-on by completely isolating him by closing their borders.
Botswana, sharing a border with South Africa and Namibia, is one of Africa's most stable countries and the continent's longest continuous multi-party democracy.
It is also the world's largest producer of diamonds and the trade has transformed it into a middle-income nation.
Botswana and South Africa share tight bilateral and economic relations. The two are also members of the Southern African Customs Union (SACU) which allows for a free flow of trade between the two countries.
However there are no bilateral trade figures recorded between the two countries, as trade figures are recorded in terms of the combined imports by one country from all other SACU countries.
