26 Feb 2026

Over the past six years, Botswana’s missions have actively engaged in economic diplomacy, investment promotion and trade facilitation in collaboration with relevant domestic agencies such as the Botswana Investment and Trade Centre (BITC) and other sector ministries. 

During this period, Botswana had successfully recorded 10 investment leads that resulted in foreign investors establishing or partnering in business ventures in Botswana from Europe-based businesses or investors, four from Africa and the Middle East and fourteen from Asia. 

This was revealed by Minister of International Relations, Dr Phenyo Butale, responding to a question from Tati East MP, Mr Tlhabologo Furniture in Parliament Wednesday. Dr Butale said such engagements spanned sectors such as mining and mineral beneficiation, renewable energy, agriculture and agro-processing, financial services, tourism and hospitality, ICT and innovation. 

The minister said, as a result of such facilitated engagements over the past six years, approximately 28 firms were successfully established or entered into joint ventures in Botswana. He said the initiatives highlighted Botswana’s stable political environment, sound economic governance, investor-friendly policies and strategic access to regional markets.

“These ventures collectively created an estimated 2,800 direct jobs, with Batswana accounting for over 85 per cent of the workforce, in compliance with national employment and localisation policies,” he added. 

However, he said the ministry was not aware of any businesses that ceased operation, adding that the mandate of the ministry was primarily policy-driven and facilitative in nature.

Again, he said the ministry’s core functions included advancing Botswana’s foreign policy objectives, promoting economic diplomacy, attracting investment, safeguarding the interests of Batswana abroad and strengthening bilateral and multilateral partnerships.

 “The economic outcomes arising from these interventions are cross-cutting and materialise through other sectors of the economy. As such, they are not captured as a standalone GDP contribution attributable solely to the Ministry,” he said.

Furthermore, he noted that beyond direct GDP impact, such ventures had contributed to technology and skills transfer, export diversification, increased tax revenues and enhancement of Botswana’s global competitiveness profile. 

He added that the ministry continued to work closely with relevant ministries and agencies responsible for trade, investment promotion and economic planning to ensure that diplomatic engagements translated into tangible economic benefits aligned with the country’s development priorities. 

Regarding return on investment in establishing embassies, he said diplomatic missions were not established solely for commercial return, as they served strategic national interests, including political representation, consular protection of citizens, trade and investment promotion, multilateral engagement, security cooperation and market access negotiations.

“However, measurable economic outcomes increasingly form part of the performance framework. Evidence demonstrates that investment and trade flows facilitated through missions significantly outweigh operational costs over the medium to long term. Diplomacy is a strategic enabler of economic transformation,” he said. 

Regarding the reduction of operational expenses and ensuring a positive return on investment, Dr Butale said government remained committed to ensuring value for money in the operation of missions abroad. 

He pointed out that measures implemented for such included periodic rationalisation and review of missions based on strategic priorities, shared services and cost-containment frameworks, digitalisation of consular and administrative services, performance-based targets linked to economic diplomacy outcomes, stronger coordination between missions and domestic economic agencies and exploration of property ownership models to reduce rental expenditure. 

He also said the country’s foreign policy was increasingly focusing on economic diplomacy, adding that missions were being repositioned from traditional political and social-focused structures to performance-driven platforms aligned with national transformation priorities, including the National Development Plan and economic diversification agenda.

“Botswana currently maintains 23 diplomatic missions, nine in Africa, six in Europe, four in Asia, one in the Middle East and three in the United States of America. The missions are strategically positioned to drive Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) into Botswana,” he said.

In addition, he said Botswana maintained permanent missions to multilateral institutions in New York, Geneva, Addis Ababa, Nairobi and Brussels, which complemented bilateral embassies in advancing economic diplomacy and trade promotion. 

The Tati East MP, had asked the minister to state, among other things, the number of Botswana Embassies in Europe, Asia, Africa, and the United States of America, respectively, and the number of such embassies that had successfully attracted foreign investors to set up business ventures, even on a partnership basis, in Botswana, with the aim of stimulating economic development.

He had also asked whether, when considering return on investment, Botswana benefitted from the establishment of various embassies abroad and government’s position regarding the reduction of operational expenses and ensuring that the embassies made a positive return on investment. BOPA