13 Feb 2018

President of Zimbabwe has vowed to ensure that the country’s 2018 general elections are credible, transparent, fair, free and democratic.

Giving a keynote address and officially opening the Botswana-Zimbabwe business forum at GICC, Mr Emmerson Mnangagwa said he would soon make the appropriate proclamations regarding the exact date of when the elections would be held.

“In due course, government will invite interested organisations from across the world to observe the elections. Let me take this opportunity to invite Zimbabweans in the diaspora to be actively involved in the development of their country,” he said.

Mr Mnangagwa said all Zimbabweans in the diaspora were welcome to help rebuild the country’s economy through their skills, businesses and even technical advice and suggestions through various institutions and departments.

He noted that deliberations that were set to take place during the Botswana-Zimbabwe business forum would address both countries’ mutual appetite for investment.

Mr Mnangagwa said he believed that the actions of the business forum would go a long way to deepen the long standing relationship for mutual benefit for both countries. He further indicated that Zimbabwe was open for business.

On his day of inauguration, Mr Mnangagwa mentioned economics and trade cooperation would be his priority in Zimbabwe, rather than politics, in order to catch up with the region, and reiterated his stance at the business forum.

“Zimbabwe has lagged behind in many areas as a result of isolation for past 16, 18 years. Now we are saying to the world: Zimbabwe is now open for business,” he said.

For his part, Minister of Investment, Trade and Industry, Mr Vincent Seretse said the business forum presented a golden opportunity for the two countries to strengthen foundations and facilitate open networking for the business communities to take advantage of the abundant trade and investment opportunities.

“Our predecessors in government pioneered the great vision of developing strong economic links between our great countries and it is for this reason that today, we have trade facilitation instruments such as Botswana/Zimbabwe bilateral trade agreement, which allow for goods traded between our countries to be exempted from payment of customs duties, provided they meet the minimum requirement of 25 per cent local content,” he said.

Mr Seretse said Zimbabwe remained one of Botswana’s leading trading partners in the region, however, government had noted a decline in trade between the two countries in recent years.

“In this regard, Botswana’s exports to Zimbabwe declined by nine per cent on a cumulative basis from P827 million to P555 million between the periods 2012 to 2016,” said Mr Seretse.

He said imports from Zimbabwe into Botswana also followed similar pattern and fell by eight per cent cumulatively for the same period, with the overall balance of trade in favour of Botswana.

“Botswana’s recorded export basket to Zimbabwe comprises salt, veterinary medicines, live animals and vehicles amongst others,” he said, further adding that on the other hand, Zimbabwe has been a consistent source of timber, sugar and cement for Botswana.

He further said Botswana’s manufacturing landscape comprised several companies with Zimbabwean shareholding, the majority operating in the timber and sugar packaging industries.

He said over the years, companies had invested around P132 million in Botswana, with an estimated annual turnover of P392 million and these companies had also employed around 436 permanent employees and an additional 436 part time employees.

Mr Seretse said the existence of a double taxation avoidance treaty between the two countries that entered into force on February 25, 2008 would facilitate cross border value chain linkages and joint venture partnerships.

“Botswana has since proposed to amend article 25 of the agreement to align it with internationally agreed standards on transparency and exchange of information for tax purposes. Both parties have committed to sign the amended agreement by June 30, 2018,” he said.

He requested both governments to openly engage with the business community and try to amicably address any issues related to non-tariff measures to facilitate more trade flows.

Mr Seretse said he was happy to share that Botswana continued to undertake ease of doing business reforms, to position the country hosting sophisticated global and multi-national companies.

“We recently established Botswana one stop service centre (BOSSC), which is based at the Botswana Investment and Trade Centre (BITC). BOSSC is expected to shorten the turnaround time for businesses that are seeking various government authorisations in Botswana by offering red carpet services from business registration to issuance of work and residence permits at no cost to ensure quality service standards,” explained Mr Seretse. ENDS