“A new ethos of citizenship, partnership, shared destiny”

Ndaba Gaolathe | Monday May 12, 2025 20:15

Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen, we gather here to confront one of the great questions of our era: As global power shifts toward multipolarity and uncertainty, what force will hold the centre?

We meet at a moment when the ground beneath global order is shifting economically, technologically, geopolitically. The pillars of multilateral cooperation are under strain. Nationalist sentiment is on the rise. The very architecture of global unity is being tested by waves of profound change.

In this era of global fragmentation, amidst some setbacks and breakthroughs, Africa is daring to chart a different course, one of unity. While others drift apart, we are choosing to come together. The African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) is a bold declaration of belief that Africa’s destiny rests in deeper integration, bold innovation, and purposeful collaboration.

Africa has long been a continent of commerce, not only in goods but in ideas, values, and ingenuity. I submit to you that not enough is said about what should be a proud African history. In Southern Africa, the Monomotapa civilization rose with brilliance and elegance. Its people built a thriving society rooted in commerce, intellect, and sovereignty, exchanging gold and ivory with the wider world. This was not a passive exchange but a manifestation of a people in full command of their agency and aspirations.

Therefore, with AfCFTA, we are not inventing a new Africa, we are both remembering who we are and reimagining what we can become. A people of balance, reciprocity, and relationship. Not just market builders, but bridge builders.

Today’s Africa is rediscovering that spirit through innovation hubs, fintech ecosystems, and a new generation of entrepreneurs who are redefining our place in the global economy. In this spirit, Africa is stepping into its role not just as a participant in global affairs but as a co-author of global solutions. We are defining new rules, not to mimic past models, but to propose better ones.

Trade is not merely an engine of growth, it must be a tool of justice. Trade, when governed by fairness and inclusivity, restores balance. Because when we trade in a spirit of equity, we do more than create profit, we expand the curve of possibility for entire communities.

Africa holds over 30% of the world’s critical minerals, from lithium, cobalt, to copper, the very elements that fuel the energy transition. Yet too often, we export raw materials but import the true costs as pollution, debt, and lost opportunity.

It is time to move from extraction to transformation, to grow value at home, to share value abroad.

As the continent moves forward in unity, Botswana steps forth with resolve, translating Africa’s grand vision into grounded, tangible transformation.

Friends, Botswana has for decades been a quiet story of stability and stewardship. We built one of Africa’s most admired democracies and economies. Our mineral wealth, prudently managed, gave us the foundation to educate our people, build roads, and preserve peace.

But we know and we accept, with the courage of realism, that the mineral-led economic model that served us well will not carry us to our next chapter. The future we now seek demands a new architecture, a new economic imagination, one that is knowledge based, technology enabled, and globally integrated.

To this end, Botswana has begun a bold transformation, not out of necessity alone, but out of vision.

Botswana is reimagining itself not as a landlocked state, but as a land-linked catalyst. We envision a country that becomes the logistics capital of Southern Africa, a future where the cities of Johannesburg, Harare, Lusaka, Windhoek, and Gaborone are stitched together by seamless corridors of rail, road, and data. Because our borders are not barriers, but bridges and gateways to regional markets and conduits for shared prosperity.

Our state-owned enterprises are being revitalized to become dynamic engines of innovation, competitiveness, and inclusive growth. We are aligning them with the ambitions of a new Botswana and the realities of a rapidly evolving global economy.

This revitalization includes scaling some entities through strategic partnerships and reforming others to meet emerging needs. In the energy sector, for instance, we are overhauling legislation to unbundle generation from transmission and to repurpose our national utility, positioning it for relevance and resilience in a transformed energy ecosystem.

With one of the highest solar radiation levels in the world, Botswana is uniquely poised to become a continental leader in solar energy generation. We are actively expanding the solar energy infrastructure, with several significant projects underway or recently announced, including the Mmadinare Solar Power Station, Jwaneng Solar Power Station and others

In our journey to become Africa’s premier financial gateway, Botswana positions its International Financial Services Centre (IFSC) as a channel for capital flows into the SADC region and the wider continent. Anchored in a stable macroeconomic environment, prudent fiscal stewardship, and one of the highest sovereign credit ratings in Africa, the IFSC offers a compelling platform for international financial services.

A recent milestone in this journey is the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding with Luxembourg, a globally respected financial centre. This strategic partnership lays the groundwork for deeper cooperation in financial sector development, regulatory alignment, capital market innovation, and knowledge exchange. It signals Botswana’s intent to lead as an emerging financial services hub on the continent.

Distinguished guests, Botswana is home to one of the most successful and enduring public-private partnerships in modern economic history. Our relationship with De Beers Group! For over five decades, this unique collaboration has turned diamonds from mere minerals into national progress, fuelling infrastructure, education, and healthcare while maintaining peace and transparency. This partnership has shown the world that when governments and investors work in principled alignment, economic transformation becomes inevitable. It is this spirit of partnership that we extend to the world. Botswana is open for business, ready to co-create, and poised to deliver enduring value for generations to come.

We are positioning key sectors such as agriculture, tourism, manufacturing, healthcare, information technology, and mineral beneficiation to be engines of inclusive growth, dignified employment, and innovation.

But beyond infrastructure and industry, what we are building truly is belief, a new ethos of citizenship, partnership, and shared destiny.

We are asking the world to partner with us, not just in resource flows, but in knowledge, research, and ideas. Let us co-develop green infrastructure. Let us co-create digital identity platforms that empower the excluded. Let us co-lead climate action grounded in justice and measurable results.

Ladies and gentlemen, we began with a question. What force will hold the centre amidst the turbulence of a changing world?

My answer, our answer is simple, Principle.

Quiet, steady, radiant principle. This is the compass of a new world order. In an age of shifting powers and fragile alliances, it is not force or fear that will endure, but the courage to stand for what is just, dignified, and sustainable.

Let us rise together not as competitors in crisis, but as collaborators in renewal.

Botswana stands firm in this belief.

I thank you.

*This is an abridged version of the speech presented by Vice President and Finance Minister, Ndaba Gaolathe at 54th St Gallen Symposium, in Switzerland this week