24 Feb 2014

Botswana still struggles to lure French investors, despite being a peaceful and prosperous nation with an economically strong and politically stable environment.

Speaking at the French Economic Council that was organised by the Embassy of France , Minister of Trade and Trade Industry, Ms Dorcas Mokgato-Malesu, said Botswana offered a profitably stable and secure environment for investment.

She added that Botswana had adopted policies that gave foreign investors security for their investment. However, Ms Makgato-Malesu said language seemed to be the main barrier in attracting more companies from France to Botswana.

This issue of communication, she said, was part of the reasons why Botswana could not attract more foreign investors from France.

However, despite this language barrier, the trade and industry minister said she felt it was necessary for Botswana and France to nurture the relationship and cooperation that existed between the two countries in order to lure more companies from France that could come and invest in Botswana.

“I would like to see more of reputable institutions from France coming to invest in Botswana, We have to make it easy for investors to invest here in Botswana,” said Ms Makgato-Malesu.

For her part, the Ambassador of France to Botswana and Special representative to SADC, Ms Anne de la Blanche, said Botswana enjoyed a very conducive environment for business.

This great asset, she said should therefore create new opportunities for trade and investment for the benefit of the two countries. The council drew representatives from French Economic Development agencies as well as French businesses based in Botswana, France and South Africa.

The objective of the council was to create awareness of Botswana’s business, trade and investment opportunity to the French community. ENDS