04 Aug 2022

Participants of the first ever Botswana-South Africa Business Forum were Wednesday urged to come up with tangible outcomes for enhancing trade and investment relations between the two countries.

Speaking at the forum, Minister of Trade and Industry, Mr Mmusi Kgafela said  the key sectors were agriculture, mining and mineral beneficiation, light industry and automotive component manufacturing.

He said the mentioned sectors were not only important for the two countries but especially for Botswana as they aligned well with President Dr Mokgweetsi Masisi’s Reset Agenda priority of value-chain development.

“It is common knowledge that South Africa is Botswana’s major trading partner and this is due to the geographical proximity of our two countries to each other and in addition, since Botswana is landlocked, most of our imports transit through South Africa,” he said.

 He said the two countries belonged to the same customs union, which subscribed to free movement of goods necessitated by the high levels of trade between the two countries.

Mr Kgafela said Botswana and South Africa had managed to negotiate and secure favourable markets through Southern Africa Customs Union (SACU), SADC and the European Union – SADC Economic Partnership Agreement.

 He said the business forum, facilitated by Botswana Investment and Trade Centre  together with South Africa’s Department of Trade and Industry, was meant to allow for intimate engagements among the participating businesses so as to share learnings.

The forum was one of the 5th Botswana-South Africa Bi-National Commission outcomes which recognised  the need for  both countries’ private sectors to engage on trade and investment issues, he said.

  Minister Kgafela said the event was timely as it coincided with the celebration of 28 years of bilateral relations between the two nations.

“During the celebrations this week we would like to honour the contribution of Botswana to the liberation struggle of South Africa and thank your compatriots for their assistance during that difficult period in our history,” said South Africa’s Minister of International Relations and Cooperation, Ms Naledi Pandor.

She noted that in the early 1960s, a number of South Africans crossed into Botswana to escape the brutal oppression of apartheid.

“Nelson Mandela, Thabo Mbeki, Ronnie Kasrils and Mosie Moolla are just some of the comrades who escaped the security police dragnet and sought refuge in Botswana,” said Ms Pandor.

She revealed that in October, South Africa would celebrate the 60th anniversary of the ANC Lobatse Conference, the first such gathering to be held outside the country.

Turning to trade matters, she said Botswana and South Africa would explore ways of enhancing automotive component manufacturing that would contribute to job creation in both countries. 

On the tourism industry, Ms Pandor said there was need to develop sustainable strategies to revitalise the sector, which was hard hit by COVID-19 in both countries.

She said both Botswana and South Africa would benefit from an agricultural exchange.   

Botswana, she said, had abundant fertile land, yet the country imported a lot of the food it consumed.

Ms Pandor said the two countries could also investigate animal feed, vegetable and fertilizer production as well as fruit processing.

“If we are to take stock of our trade relations in recent years, it is evident that our two countries maintain a robust trade relationship that has strengthened despite the pandemic. 

South African exports to Botswana were R64.4 billion last year, and South Africa remains Botswana’s number one source of imports. Botswana is South Africa’s 7th largest export market,” she said. ENDS