Another area is work and residence permits. Malesu said between 2003 and February 2008, BEDIA was given two Statutory Instruments empowering it to process work and residence permits for chief executives, finance managers, production managers, quality development managers, operations managers and marketing managers.

"Such people are exempted from going through the normal process of applying for work and residence permits," she said. "Instead, we at BEDIA screen them and make recommendations to the Commissioner of Labour, who then awards the permits."

The process takes only five days because there are no queues and "the Selection Board is also not involved in the process". Malesu said this is a welcome development as it does not discourage potential investors.

She explained that the exemption of these positions from going through the normal process of applying for work and residence permits applies only where no citizens have come forward.

In a related development, Malesu said the Ministry of Labour and Home Affairs (MLHA) is considering amending the Non-Citizen Employment Act to give BEDIA powers to issue work and residence permits.

"This development will strengthen our mandate of luring investors to Botswana to set up businesses, creating employment for our people," she said. "We want investors to find properly laid out channels and structures so that it does not take too long for them to set up their businesses."

Meanwhile, Malesu announced at the same press conference that the process of recruiting the Chief Executive Officer of the Botswana Brand is on-going.

"It is almost at a final stage, but no interviews have been conducted yet because we are waiting for the appointment of the Board," she said, adding that the names of people being considered for appointment to the board are circulating "and will soon be passed to Cabinet for approval and appointed accordingly".

She said registration of the company and its trademark has been completed and stakeholders such as the media, public and private sectors have been briefed.

"Marketing, public relations and communication specialists have also been briefed on the Brand," she noted.

So have some district councils, among them the Central, Kweneng and Kgatleng.