05 Jun 2019

Botswana has already exhausted 30 per cent of its €2.6 million grant, (over P31 billion), that was meant for implementation of various interventions under the Botswana SADC Trade Related Facility (TRF) project.

This was revealed by the Minister of Investment, Trade and Industry, Ms Bogolo Kenewendo when officiating at the launch of SADC TRF Botswana on June 4.

Ms Kenewendo explained that the SADC TRF was a mechanism for financial and technical support to SADC member states to assist them to implement commitments made under the SADC Trade Protocol and the SADC Economic Partnership Agreement with the EU (EPA).

She said the facility was therefore meant to achieve a high level of compliance and implementation of the two agreements.

For Botswana, she said financial assistance under the SADC TRF was meant to help strengthen the country’s capacity for; International Trade Administration, Competition and Customs Enforcement, Sanitary and Phytosanitary Management and Control Management of Standards Import Inspection Regulations (SIIR) and Implementation of Electronic Commerce

She, therefore, expressed government’s gratitude, to both the SADC Secretariat and EU for coming up with the programme, adding that it would go a long way in contributing to the achievement of the country’s Trade Policy and National Export Strategy objectives.

“The support granted under the SADC TRF comes at an opportune time when the country is reviewing its 2010 Trade Policy to embrace the economic changes which have taken place over the ten year period in both the two markets of SADC and EU,” she said.

She explained that the policy review postulated an export-led economy with diversified products and markets, which resonated well with the country’s Vision 2036 and the National Development Plan 11.

The two markets of SADC and EU, the minister said, remained important for Botswana’s economic growth and urged Botswana companies to utilise the markets by taking advantage of the market access preferences provided under the SADC Protocol on Trade and EPA.

She said the Botswana SADC TRF project was also crucial to making a meaningful contribution to exports between Botswana and the two markets. She added that the SADC market alone provided an opportunity with over 250 million people, whilst the EU market had a population of over 600 million people.

The Minister expressed delight that the benefits reaped from the project would also affect the country’s other commitments made elsewhere, such as the East African Community – Common Market for East and Southern Africa – Southern African Development Community (EAC – COMESA – SADC) Tripartite Free Trade Area and the African Continental Free Trade Area.

Initially, she said, the project was planned to be completed at the end of September 2019 but had been extended by a further two years from October 2019 up to September 2021 ‘to allow us to complete implementation of all our activities.’

Since the commencement of implementation of the project activities, Minister Kenewendo said a consultant was engaged to draft regulations to the new Botswana Customs Act which was passed by Parliament in July 2018 and review the SIIR, as well as to conduct a regulatory impact assessment of the reviewed SIIR.

Additionally, she said the United Nations Conference on Trade Development and a Technical Advisor were also engaged to develop the National E-Commerce Strategy, as well as to provide institutional capacity building services to Botswana Trade Commission, respectively.

Furthermore, she said Botswana Bureau of Standards officers were also trained on the 45 compulsory standards contained in the SIIR.

She urged beneficiaries to fast track implementation of their activities and complete them way before the expiry of the new deadline.

The objective of the SADC TRF is to strengthen the process of regional integration in SADC, enhance trade with the EU and strengthen the region’s trade competitiveness globally, whilst its specific objective is to enhance implementation of the SADC Trade Protocol and the SADC EU EPA in order to increase intra-regional and inter-regional trade flows of member states. ENDS