Kgafela courts investors
Pauline Dikuelo | Sunday October 3, 2021 13:11
To that end the Minister said several state-owned entities have been established such as the Botswana Investment and Trade Centre (BITC), with its One Stop Service Centre to facilitate investors.
Speaking during the two day Africa-Dubai Investment Business Summit which was held under the theme ‘Closing the Investment Gap' the Minister said the summit comes at a time when thecountry has embarked on an ambitious National Vision of transforming from an Upper Middle-Income Country to a High-Income Country by 2036.
"This Vision will be driven by a knowledge-based and inclusive economy underpinned by democracy, good governance, the rule of law and respect for human rights,"
He said the concept of ‘Closing the Investment Gap’ speaks to a facilitated approach, where governments of developing countries work together with potential investors and financial sector representatives to align and structure key projects that fit perfectly into the investor’s portfolios and plans.
"It is in that same context that the developing countries owe it to the potential investors to make meaningful efforts to not only present projects for investment, but to continuously improve the doing business environment in their backyards and achieve global comptetitiveness," he said.
According to the latest World Bank Doing Business and Competitiveness rankings, the World Bank ranked Botswana 87 out of 190 economies in the category of Ease of Doing Business in 2020 and 91 in the 2019 World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Index.
Kgafela said It therefore, of great importance to note that through these rankings, Botswana was consistently amongst the Top 10 Best Countries in Africa.
"To improve the Doing Business and global competitiveness rankings, Government approved the Doing Business Roadmap and Action Plan in 2015. Through its implementation, many reforms, both administrative and legal, have been completed while some were recently passed by Parliament sitting and await to be ascended into law.
" We further established the Special Economic Zones Authority, which has eight Special Economic Zones at different level of development, to accelerate investment in sector-targeted geographic areas in the country and provide investor assurance to accessing necessary specialised facilities. Additionally, Botswana Government continues to review its fiscal and non-fiscal incentives, as well as offer favourable tax base to investors, "
According to Kgafela the Summit which runt alongside theDubai 2020 Expo at large, present the ultimate platform for countries to rekindle their business connections and open up new market streams.