22 Aug 2017

Kenyan High Commissioner  to Botswana says in today’s world trade is a critical tool for development and growth hence countries are working towards removing trade barriers and to become more competitive. 

Officially opening the 12^th edition of the Botswana Consumer Fair at Fairground Holdings Monday, Ms Jean Kimani said inter-regional trade had increased steadily in the last decade especially in the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA)-East African Community (EAC)-Southern African Development Community (SADC) Tripartite Free Trade Area (FTA). 

“Botswana indeed provides for most of us a gateway to the SADC region and being a large market, the SADC region is a big market with over 600 million people and it offers a huge potential for businesses and trade opportunities and therefore the Botswana Consumer Fair becomes important in promoting the regional agenda of enhancing inter-Africa trade and integration,” she said. 

With the tagline of this year’s consumer fair being, It’s More Than Just Shopping, Ms Kimani said the event provided a glimpse into the rest of Africa and what Africa could offer and it applied to the rest of the African continent. 

She said Kenya used the Botswana Consumer Fair as an ideal platform for showcasing their products, investment opportunities as well as tourist attraction and the country had participated since its inception. 

“I want to assure you that we shall continue to do so with a view to introducing more Kenyan products within this market. This year we will be showcasing our flowers, tea, coffee and multi-cultural products as well as providing information on culture, investment and various tourist attractions one finds in Kenya,” she said. 

She noted that in the last few years they had had a lot of people asking about agricultural opportunities in Kenya. 

Ms Kimani said trade levels between Botswana and Kenya had been modest and both exports and imports continued to grow. 

“With the signing of a trade, industry and investment Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the two countries last year, we are hopeful that there will be a lot more trade between the two countries. 

I want to challenge businesses here to make use of this trade opportunity,” said Ms Kimani. 

She said there was also another MoU that had been signed between Business Botswana and the Kenyan National Chamber of Commerce. 

“This is another area that focuses on opening opportunities for nationals of both Kenya and Botswana to increase trade and business. This will enhance job creation for both countries,” she said. She urged Botswana businesses to also use a number of fairs and exhibitions available in Kenya to showcase their products to gain access to the Kenya market and the larger COMESA trade area. 

“These include the Nairobi International Trade Fair held every October on a yearly basis and I want to urge businesses in Botswana to register for this fair using our stall available at Botswana Consumer Fair,” she concluded. Chief executive officer of Fairground Holdings, Ms Myra Sekgororoane said this was the first official opening of the Botswana Consumer Fair which was in its 12th year. 

“In order to remain relevant and in our quest to continuously improve our service offering and add value to our exhibitors and visitors, we found it opportune to add to our marketing and advertising of the fair by adding this ceremony right at the start of the event as primarily a call for action,” she said. 

She said Kenya had always supported the consumer fair by participating along with other countries and partners. The fair is set to go on until Sunday at Ditshupo and Boipuso Hall. ENDS