27 Sep 2023

With an export value of just P10.8 million to Germany in 2022, Botswana should engage further with the former to explore possibilities of deeper trade relations.

In an interview on September 25 at the close of the Bits and Pretzels conference which the President Dr Mokgweetsi Masisi attended in Germany, London-based Botswana Investment and Trade Centre (BITC) official, Mr Moemedi Mokgosi, said the modest trade relations between the two countries gave room for the identification of more areas of collaboration.

“Of course we are a small country, and our exports to Germany are insignificant,” Mr Mokgosi, who is the Director for International Business to the United Kingdom and the European Union region, said. “They were worth P10.8 million in 2022. We have not reached the pre-COVID-19 pandemic levels in terms of trade but I think there are opportunities to expand.”

Conversely, Mr Mokgosi said, Germany’s volume of exports to Botswana stood at P630.4 million during the same period.

Germany exported electrical and mechanical goods whereas Botswana’s commodities in export to the other country comprised oil seeds and oleaginous fruits as well as semi-precious stones.

He encouraged Botswana companies to position themselves to tap into the German market as many opportunities existed both for collaboration and for simply entering and penetrating that market.

He said Germany already had some presence in Botswana through institutions such as GIZ which supports Botswana in the area of Technical, Vocational Education and Training (TVET) and the SADC in economic integration, peace, security and good governance.

Mr Mokgosi said the institution also supports the regional body in trans-boundary water management, cross-border protection and use of natural resources, adaptation to climate change and strengthening national-regional linkages throughout the SADC region.

“Worth noting also is that institutions like BITC also has some technical cooperation with some German institutions,” he added. “We collaborate with an institution called Senior Experten Services, a non-profit organisation doing consultancy work, through which we tapped into the pool of retired technical experts and brought them to Botswana to work with our manufacturing companies for capacity building.”

Another German institution, German Mechanical Industry Association, he said, was also in partnership with the Construction Industry Trust Fund for the provision of tailored training programmes in hydraulics and mechatronics.

Mr Mokgosi explained that SADC and the EU had an economic partnership agreement, which in principle dictated how Botswana and her peers in SADC traded with Germany and other EU member states.

About Botswana’s stance on innovation and the need to infuse technology into all economic activities, he said, though the nation was only now beginning to get a grasp of these aspects, President Dr Masisi insistent drive to get them interwoven into the very soul of the nation had stirred up some hope that the country would gradually gravitate towards where the rest of the globe was headed.

“Our innovation is still nascent, we are still very young but the president is on a drive to take Botswana to a high-income status,” he said. “We need to embrace the message of the Mindset Change campaign so that we can realise our full potential.”

Regarding future participation by Batswana at the Bits and Pretzels conference, he said now that Dr Masisi and his delegation had appreciated the relative benefits of participating in big events on the international stage, there was hope that young entrepreneurs and innovators would be afforded the opportunity in future to partake in the trail-blazing symposium. ENDS