05 Oct 2014

Assistant Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, Mr Olebile Gaborone says as the industry diversifies, it is imperative for government to support private sector and the industry through targeted programmes to forge the Public Private Partnerships (PPPs).

Speaking at the Botswana Exporters and Manufacturers Association (BEMA) annual general meeting, Mr Gaborone said that his ministry was willing to open doors to the private sector to determine the agenda and road map for future trade development on the local arena with the ministry acting as a vehicle and facilitator.

He said his ministry was aware of the impediments of doing business as was reported in the critical issues to doing business document which was availed to his offices.

Mr Gaborone said BEMA has been a champion in articulating manufacturers and exporters issues in various committees adding that BEMA had facilitated crucial workshops to educate manufacturers and exporters on critical competitiveness matters in order to penetrate the complex and hard to enter export market.

“The gap between private sector and government is continually narrowing,” he said adding that the role of private sector is becoming increasingly important in terms of advising government on policy formulation as well as International Trade.

Following the Presidential Directive on the Economic Diversification Drive (EDD), he said government has embarked on the initiative to promote the growth of a vibrant and globally competitive private sector.

The EDD, he said is designed as a paradigm shift in the economic diversification effort which is to be achieved through two components 

These components, he said, are to leverage government’s purchasing power to stimulate local production and consumption by procuring from locally based manufactures and service providers.

He said the other component is to diversify the economy through a holistic and systematic development of globally competitive enterprises that needs little or no government protection and support.

Although Botswana has over the years made strides in economic growth and political stability, he said the country continues to face challenges of poverty and unemployment adding that socio-economic ills such as corruption, fraud and other related offences compromise organisational effectiveness and corporate governance.

Outgoing BEMA president, Mr Loago Raditedu noted that BEMA has been around for the past 19 years and started with a hand full of business people and less than 20 exporting companies who saw a gap before BEDIA was formed.

Mr Raditedu said its main purpose was to assist government to diversify the economy from traditional exports to non-traditional exports. Ends