10 Nov 2020

 Government has made strides in Ease of Doing Business, with only 10 activities needing licensing under the Industrial and Trade Regulations Act.

In his State-of-the-Nation Address on November 9, President Dr Mokgweetsi Masisi said only activities which had public health and safety requirements needed licensing, and therefore the remaining 35 trade activities could start operations and register with councils within 30 days of operation. 

“Furthermore, the new act has abolished the Trade Licensing Committees and introduced over the counter licensing,” he said.

President Masisi noted that the review of the Industrial Development Policy was to be completed in December 2021. 

He said the primary objective was to align it to the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Protocol on Industry. 

“However, as part of its efforts to implement the Industrial Development Policy, government has over the years introduced statutory instruments, including the recently imposed restrictions on the importation of bread and confectionery as well as face masks to support the local industry,” he said. 

The President said government would continue to review immigration policies and acts to facilitate the ease of doing business in Botswana. 

Government, he said, was reviewing both the Immigration and Citizenship Acts and was also in the process of finalising a Migration Policy in collaboration with SADC. 

“In an endeavour to make Botswana the country of choice for international tourists and investors, government in 2019 introduced reforms which include the decentralisation of VISA applications to Botswana’s diplomatic missions and the issuance of VISA at some ports of entry,” he said. 

Dr Masisi pointed out that relaxation of VISA requirements was introduced to make business in Botswana smooth and seamless, adding the ultimate intention was to provide the service digitally after integration of systems. 

Meanwhile, the President said the ratification of the Tripartite Free Trade Area (TFTA) Agreement was successfully concluded in January this year. 

He said through the TFTA, Botswana had secured a duty free market for variety of her products including breeding animals, beef, salt, vaccines for livestock. 

Plastic pipes and tubes, pharmaceutical and copper products, semen and embryos and the entire value chain. 

“The private sector will therefore, have access to new and dynamic markets for exports and new sources of inputs for domestic production processes, thereby enhancing intra-regional trade,” said the President. 

President Masisi explained that the TFTA comprised 27 countries from three regional economic communities, SADC, Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) and the Eastern African Community (EAC) with a combined population of nearly 600 million people. 

Talking about the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), Dr Masisi stated that it was currently under a three month bi-annual review process due for completion by end of this month. 

He said four companies were exporting natural products such as morula oil, organic honey and gourmet gems following attainment of Fair Trade Certification. 

President Masisi said the Leather Entrepreneur Association had developed a roadmap for capacity building and accessing the US market. Ends