31 Mar 2022

Expo 2020 Dubai was an important platform for Botswana to share opportunities with the world, Minister of Investment, Trade and Industry has said.

In a statement he presented in Parliament on Wednesday, Minister Mmusi Kgafela said following Botswana’s participation at the expo, the Botswana Investment Trade Centre (BITC) continued to make follow ups with some of the key contacts who had attended the events to determine their level of interest and readiness to take up investment opportunities in the country.

He told MPs that 10 private sector companies from Botswana participated in the Expo 2020 Dubai, following an Expression of Interest that was published in all media inviting private sector and stakeholder to express interest to participate at the expo.

Sectors represented were agriculture, sport, tourism, general services and minerals beneficiation. The minister said Botswana delegation held key business to business meetings and site visits during the expo which included a dairy farm started in 1989 with 500 cattle and gradually increased their breeding stock to 18 000 cattle.

The company, he said, also operated a processing plant where dairy products and fresh juice were produced and the company currently produced four per cent of the National United Arab Emirates dairy demand as well as 1.4 megawatts of power through biogas. Furthermore, he said site visits were conducted with a hydroponics farm that used artificial intelligence green houses for horticulture production and process as well as Abudhabi Fund for Development which aimed to help developing countries to achieve sustainable socio-economic growth through financial assistance in the form of concessionary loans, managing grants and equities.

Mr Kgafela further informed Parliament that BITC, hosted an investment and trade conference under the theme: Sustained Growth Through Inclusive and Innovative Investments, which was attended by 250 delegates.

He said the conference featured  a series of keynote addresses and sessions demonstrating Botswana’s readiness to host foreign direct investors in the various productive sectors of the economy with President Dr Mokgweetsi Masisi presenting on his leadership vision of transforming the economy into a high-income status as anchored around his road map.

Also featured in the conference, he said, was Minister of Finance and Economic Development, Ms Peggy Serame as well as chief executive officers from Letshego Holdings, First National Bank, Botswana Development Corporation, Bank of Botswana and Lucara Botswana.

Minister of Mineral Resources, Green Technology and Energy Security, Mr Lefoko Moagi officiated at the mining and mineral beneficiation seminar, where he presented on the role of mining and minerals in the socio-economic development of the country and created awareness of the investment framework within the sector.  

Mr Kgafela further informed the house that Botswana engaged Dubai Multi Commodities Centre (DMCC), a leading centre for trading international commodities and the world’s fastest growing free zone. 

The company, he said also promoted and facilitated trade across a range of goods from gold, diamonds and precious metals to tea, food and industrial material.

He said Okavango Diamond Company and DMCC entered into a Memorandum of Understanding whose purpose was to agree on projects that were mutually beneficial and would develop as well as strengthen relations between the two parties.

Other engagements, he said involved among others, a company that focused on research and industry solutions that solved today’s problems in specific situations and industries, a company involved in developing commercially viable renewable energy projects in the Middle East, North Africa and International markets as well as a company that created opportunities in autonomous capabilities, directed energy, cyber physical systems, robotics and smart material with artificial intelligence embedded across its products and services. ends