06 Jun 2024

The volume of trade between Botswana and the Republic of Korea is quite low, and this leaves room for pursuing investment opportunities. 

This is despite good diplomatic relations between the two countries sharing common values of democracy and a market economy anchored in developmental state macroeconomic planning.

The Botswana Investment and Trade Centre (BITC) Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Mr Keletsositse Olebile, said this in an interview with BOPA on the margins of the Korea-Africa Business Summit in Seoul, Korea. 

Mr Olebile said Korea was one of the world’s major industrialised economies, and as such presented Botswana with high end investment and market opportunities given that there was room to grow existing trade volumes. 

“South Korea is a high-income country that has developed very rapidly over 50 years. But when you look at trade between Botswana and South Korea, there is still a lot that needs to be done. They are selling us communication cables and semi conductors, and we are selling them, to a very small extent, diamonds. But there isn’t enough, and as BITC we are here to cultivate trade between the two countries,” Mr Olebile said. 

With a gross domestic product of $1.7 trillion, producing and exporting goods such as vehicles and car parts, integrated circuits, mineral fuels, scientific instruments as well as digital technology products; while also providing a lucrative high end import market for various goods, Korea is a highly sought after trading partner. 

“We seek to cultivate those relations that will entrench trade between our two countries because South Korea is a country of vast opportunities. We are exploring areas such as information communications technology, tourism and other sectors,” Mr Olebile said. 

He further revealed that there was space for trade to develop within the agricultural sector, particularly the cattle industry and the export of citrus products. 

“Korea has 3.6 million cattle, largely the high premium Hanu breed, which mostly gets exported to developed markets, leaving space for Korea to import a lot of beef to augment its domestic market, and we believe we could claim our share of that market,” Mr Olebile said. 

He said government, through the Ministry of Agriculture was initiating appropriate discussions on the citrus products accessing the Korean market and expressed hope that by the time of the next harvest season, it would be possible to export citrus to Korea. 

Additionally, Mr Olebile noted that the Korea-Africa Summit, which included a day solely dedicated to business, afforded the African continent the opportunity to negotiate structured access to trade with Korea. 

“It has been encouraging that both sides are committed to the partnership. The Korea International Trade Association (KITA) has signed a Memorandum of Agreement with the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) and we believe this will bring structure and form to continental trade efforts with Korea,” Mr Olebile said. 

The high level engagements initiated over the past week could yield tangible fruitful results over time, Mr Olebile insisted. 

He said with the Koreans model of doing business, they start with high level engagements at a government to government level to open opportunities, trust and confidence, before paving way for their private sector to come in. 

So we are happy with the high level engagements President Dr Mokgweetsi Masisi had here, as they would lay the foundation for line commercial sector engagements,” Mr Olebile said. 

While in Seoul, the BITC held breakaway discussions with Korean market leaders on ICT, tourism, agriculture, and energy among other sectors to initiate dialogue on establishing trade between the two states in these fields. Ends