07 Aug 2022

Botswana and South Africa’s trade and industry ministers and their teams have been urged to develop and operationalise concrete plans for addressing  challenges identified during the just-ended historic business forum.

   In his closing remarks to the  Botswana-South Africa business roundtable in Gaborone Friday, President Dr Mokgweetsi Masisi stressed the urgency of elevating  trade between the two countries.

  He said Botswana and South Africa needed to trade in a mutually beneficial and efficient manner.

   “The mutual trading should start off under the Southern Africa Customs Union (SACU), which grants producers domiciled anywhere in the customs union market access to a combined population of around 60 million,” he said.

  Noting that the SACU market allowed manufacturers to do export trials, he said retailors would eventually gain the necessary experience, which would assist them to grow and reach the economies of scale to export regionally and continentally.

President Masisi said there were a lot of opportunities for the two countries to collaborate and partner on in order to grow their economies.

They ranged from exporting power to South Africa, vertically integrating automotive components manufacturing into the South Africa auto value chain, which was on a positive growth trajectory as well as Diamond Hub having linkages with the OR Tambo Special Economic Zone, he said.

President Masisi hailed as commendable South Africa’s plans to  introduce ports authority  which he said was consistent with  international best practice.

“I am confident that it will go a long way in improving the clearance times, which have been a hindrance to efficient movement of goods, thus delaying trade,” he said. 

The President also expressed delight that all Botswana’s border   gates with South Africa,  some of which were closed as a COVID-19 control measure, were now operational.

Border gates were critical for tourism and travel facilitation as well as movement of goods between the two countries, said Dr Masisi.

Another positive for trade facilitation, the President said, was the commissioning last year of the Kazungula Bridge, a joint Botswana-Zambia project.

The bridge enabled swift movement of goods to northern trading partners in Zambia, Angola, Democratic Republic of Congo and beyond, he said.

Dr Masisi said it was imperative for Botswana and South Africa business communities to meet frequently given the existing strong diplomatic and economic relations between them.

“There is no doubt that the private sector is the engine of growth for both countries’ respective economies to prosper. It therefore should be government’s role to create an enabling environment for them to thrive,” President Masisi said.ends