15 Dec 2022

African ministers of trade have unanimously asked for timely renewal or extension of the Africa Growth Opportunity Act (AGOA) that elapses in 2025.

 In an interview, Botswana Investment and Trade Centre (BITC) chief executive officer, Mr Keletsositse Olebile said Botswana was interested in discussions around relaxation of some conditions preventing effective landing of goods in the US through the AGOA programme.
“We believe that these are arguments that were taken across US authorities and we believe that due consideration will be given as we move towards the renewal. And we asked that this be done before end of 2023, well in time so that every country can make its response strategy,” he said.

Mr Olebile said Botswana wanted to attract more US investments because the country had not exploited AGOA to the fullest.
On investment promotion, he said meetings had been held with venture capitalists interested in exploiting opportunities in Botswana, predominantly in the mining space.

“We have had some contacts that we facilitated meetings with, some gas exploration companies in Botswana and we have been able to introduce credible companies back at home that the US did not know about,” said the BITC chief.
Other deals, Mr Olebile said they included interest in the exploitation of rare metals used in manufacturing electric vehicle batteries.

However, he said the US’ Inflation Control Act stipulated that in every electric vehicle produced, 40 per cent of its battery components had to originate from the US.
“This effectively means that this might have the effect of excluding some of the producing companies in Botswana. So these are some of the topics we were taking up as BITC so that maybe some relevant revisions can be considered and our metals like nickel and manganese can be accommodated.

We are continuing with our meetings and believe that with concerted follow-ups, there would be some positive outcomes,” he said.
The BITC CEO said there was an expression of keen interest in the development of agriculture during a meeting between President Dr Mokgweetsi Masisi and US secretary of agriculture to cultivate an export market for Selebi Phikwe citrus produce.

“As you know, the scale and number of trees planted even if we want, we cannot consume all those citrus. So we are trying to cultivate export market for them to land in the US,” he said.
Mr Olebile said the Ministry of Agriculture had been given pointers on what to do in order to access the US market.

According to him, the best outcome of the just-ended US-Africa Leaders’ Summit was Botswana’a hosting of next year’s Africa Business Summit where in excess of 2 000 people would converge on Gaborone.
   That, he said, would culminate in entrenching targeted discussions on Botswana/US collaboration as well as giving US companies first-hand information about Botswana and identification of immediate opportunities to exploit. ENDS