06 Nov 2022

Botswana Investment and Trade Centre (BITC) held the Global Expo 2022 Awards Ceremony, otherwise known as Botswana Night in honour of the best exhibitors on Friday.

The event also doubled as BITC’s 10th anniversary celebration and provided an opportunity for exhibitors to have a taste of local performing arts.

In his welcome remarks, BITC board director, Mr Bakang Palai said Botswana had a great desire to develop excellence in hosting of meetings, conferences and exhibitions.

“The success that we achieved in hosting this event gives me so much hope that we can easily scale up to host bigger events. During his visit here, Professor Benedict Oramah put across a proposition for Botswana to host the 2025 Intra-African Trade Fair,” he said.

Mr Palai said the BITC Board of Directors would consider this proposition and approach government for support and guidance.

He said the awards were meant to encourage the exhibitors to continuously work on improving their businesses.

“They are not meant to sow a spirit of rivalry among you, but to encourage healthy competition that contributes to the growth of your businesses,” he said.

Permanent secretary in the Ministry of Trade and Industry, Ms Malebogo Morakaladi said she was pleased that the conference and workshops did not only focus on the diagnosis of current challenges, but on solutions to boost economic and social aspirations.

“With the quality that I have seen in the exhibition hall, you are all winners in my opinion. The level of the display was befitting the Expo of this magnitude, and I expect that we will build on this success to achieve more in the coming years,” she said.

One of the key highlights of the Global Expo was the announcement of the US$1.5 billion Country Programme for Botswana by President and chairperson of Afreximbank, Professor Benedict Oramah, she said.

Ms Morakaladi said the country programme was envisaged to support ‘our creative industry and the development of industrial parks in the Special Economic Zones, saying that the execution of such projects was expected to create significant job opportunities and contribute to economic and export diversification.

She said the #PushaBw Forum enabled all to have a dialogue on how Botswana-based enterprises could be supported to play a more active role in the economy.

“It also provided them with a platform to celebrate the successes of the programme so far, and to recognise various stakeholders that continue to play a positive role in procuring locally-manufactured goods as well as those that provide capacity-building and skills development to our enterprises,” she said.

Ms Morakaladi also extended an invitation to international exhibitors to consider opening branches in Botswana.

She highlighted that Botswana had a conducive business environment that allowed one to open a company online, allowed for 100 per cent foreign ownership of companies, a 15 per cent tax rate for manufacturing and IFSC companies as well as free movement of capital across the borders without any restrictions. ENDS