Nomination of Natale H. Bellocchi To Be United States Ambassador to Botswana

The President today announced his intention to nominate Natale H. Bellocchi, of New York, a career member of the Senior Foreign Service, Class of Minister-Counselor, as Ambassador to the Republic of Botswana. He would succeed Theodore C. Maino.

After graduating from Georgia Tech, Mr. Bellocchi worked as an industrial engineer at the Burlington Mills Corp. in Allentown, PA, from 1948 to 1950. He joined the Foreign Service as a diplomatic courier in 1955. From 1960 to 1961, he was an administrative assistant in Hong Kong. From 1961 to 1963, he served as general services officer in Vientiane, Laos. He took Chinese language training in Taichung, Taiwan, from 1963 to 1964 and then became assistant commercial attaché in Taipei, Taiwan, where he served until 1968. From 1968 to 1969, he was chief of the commercial unit in Hong Kong. He returned to Washington in 1970 to take economic training. From 1971 to 1972, he was commercial attaché in Saigon, Vietnam, and from 1973 to 1974, he was commercial counselor in Tokyo, Japan. He attended the senior seminar in Washington, DC, from 1974 to 1975 and thereafter was detailed as a special assistant in OASIA, Department of the Treasury, Washington, DC. Mr. Bellocchi then went to New Delhi, India, as economic counselor until 1979, when he returned to Hong Kong as deputy principal officer. From 1981 to the present, he has been Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Current Analysis in the Bureau of Intelligence and Research.

Mr. Bellocchi was born July 5, 1926, in Little Falls, NY. He received his B.S. in 1948 from Georgia Tech (industrial management) and his M.A. in 1954 from Georgetown University. He served in the United States Army from 1950 to 1953. His foreign language is Chinese-Mandarin. Mr. Bellocchi is married to Sujr (Lilan) Liu, and they have two children.