11 Dec 2014

For the past 30 years, Botswana has been seeking to diversify its economy from being too dependent on diamonds, says the Assistant Minister of Trade and Industry, Mr Sadique Kebonang.

Speaking at the official opening of Trading House Botswana in partnership with the Hungarian National Trading House CLS, Mr Kebonang said like Hungary, Botswana recognised that small and medium enterprises could be a stimulus to economic growth and development.

“It is for this reason that we are excited to partner with you in this project,” he informed Hungarian officials.

He said Botswana was open to business and had a number of sectors that offered a comparative advantage either because there were raw materials or technologies that could easily be adapted. “These include information, communication and technology, agro-processing, coal, recycled materials and arts and crafts among others,” said Mr Kebonang.

He said it was apparent that the trading house should be open in Botswana because the country boasted of Southern African Custom Union’s (SACU) population of 53 million.

“We also boast of a Southern African Development Community (SADC) market of around 250 million people, a duty free quota, quota free market access in the European Union through the Economic Partnership Agreement and duty free quota free market access in the United States of America through the African Growth Opportunity Act,” he said.

He said as government, they recognise that there is more to be gained from multinational companies and partnerships in the form of skills transfer, foreign exchange, opening up of foreign markets and technology transfer.

“These benefits arise however only when there is confidence in the political environment,” he said. Mr Kebonang said among other tax incentives, Botswana offers 15 per cent for manufacturing and financial services, 22 per cent corporate tax for other sectors, 12 per cent value added tax and possible tax holidays for 5-10 years.

He further assured the Hungarian officials that Botswana is the only country with no foreign exchange restrictions, a stable and predictable business environment and known for her rule of law, democracy and good governance.

“We expect to see the establishment of a permanent office with the necessary human capital and requisite resources and we also expect Hungarian companies that come here to have a positive spill-over effect and to abide by the rules of the game,” said Mr Kebonang.

Hungarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, State Secretary, Dr Csaba Balogh said they choose Botswana because it is a development success story.  He said Botswana was also highly rated by international organisations on a number of economic indicators based on its impressive performance.

“Botswana has also been consistently rated by the Transparency International as the least corrupt country in Africa and is ranked amongst the least corrupt countries in the world,” he said. He said the trading house in Gaborone will facilitate and promote bilateral trade relations to the mutual benefit of the two countries.

“The cooperation will be implemented in the framework of projects, offering a product or service of a Hungarian enterprise within a certain range of services/products,” he said. ENDS