11 Mar 2020

As an administration that came into power on the knowledge-based economy ticket, inclusion is a priority for government.

 This was said by Minister of Local Government and Rural Development Mr Eric Molale when opening the Botswana Association of Local Authorities (BALA)  national conference in Gaborone on Tuesday.

 He informed his audience inclusion could be achieved through consultation with relevant stakeholders.

    Minister Molale said in achieving a knowledge-based economy, focus should be on four priorities namely, export-led economy, efficient public spending, building human capital and infrastructure development. 

  Botswana, he noted,  could no longer depend on diamonds for economic growth, hence the need to move towards a knowledge-based economy.

   He said it was vital to follow a prescribed path of development on how to tackle day to day issues adding that part of the prescription lay in National Development Plan 11 which espoused citizen involvement in the running of the country.

  The conference, held under the theme: 4th Industrial Revolution: Towards Achieving Knowledge-Based Economy, aims to build capacities of civic institutions as development champions in their respective localities.

 For her part, Absa Bank Botswana Limited corporate director Ms Lesley Bradley said local authorities were critical partners in economic growth and developmental agenda.

  The bank, Ms Bradley said,  acknowledged that local authorities held the key to unlocking economic growth opportunities within their jurisdictions.

 She said the Absa-BALA partnership afforded the bank an opportunity to leverage on local and regional expertise to transform the way local governments did business.

 Ms Bradley said that was  achievable through coming up with practical, innovative, sustainable and replicable strategies that drove local economies with a spillover effect on national economic growth.

 “We are aware that one of the challenges facing governments and local governments is infrastructure funding. Globally, infrastructural development is a strategic component and economic driver for any growing economy,” she said.

  Ms Bradley said collective efforts and collaborative initiatives between government and Absa would deliver desirable results of finding alternative and innovative funding models. Ends