Botswana world rankings improves
Correspondent | Tuesday November 26, 2013 15:49
It is also exciting that this year we will be witnessing for the first time, high level discussions from renowned local and international experts in their respective fields. This event provides an avenue for individuals, businesses and other stakeholders from Botswana and around the globe, to experience and do business with each other in our beautiful country, Botswana. Global Expo Botswana and indeed the Botswana Investment and Trade Centre play a pivotal role in the continuous improvement to the global competitiveness of Botswana's business environment.
It is perhaps of uttermost importance, to inform you that since Independence, Botswana development efforts are based on the principles of economic liberalisation and openness. Successive National Development Plans have emphasised the role of the Government as a facilitator of economic growth and development, rather than as an active participant.
Government has fulfilled this role by creating a sound macroeconomic environment, responsiveness to private sector concerns and needs and by the maintenance of law and order. Efforts to enhance competitiveness continue to be pursued vigorously.
These efforts have translated into some tangible results on the ground. As indicated in the State of the Nation Address earlier this month by His Excellency the President, Botswana has improved several places to 56th in the 2013 World Bank Ease of Doing Business rankings. Similarly, Botswana improved five places in the 2013-14 World Economic Forum Global Competitiveness.
In yet another ranking, the Baseline Profitability Index has ranked Botswana second in the world, after Hong Kong, and among the only three African countries in the top ten. This indicator is based on three factors of asset growth, preservation of value and repatriation of capital. This guarantees the investor of the best returns on their investments, and explains to you why we say 'Botswana is your best investment destination'. The Global Expo, therefore, provides you with the avenue to tap into investment opportunities available in Botswana. It provides an environment to develop strategic business partnerships, introduce new products to the market place, and gain valuable insights in maximising business sales.
The Global Expo is Botswana's premier business to business (b2b) and multi-sectoral exposition which connects businesses, has facilitated investment and trade over the years. For example, we have seen a growth in the number of exhibitors from 107 in 2006 to 156 in 2012, while the cumulative business transacted is P380 million from orders placed between the companies. It has also had a significant impact on the attraction of Foreign Direct Investment into the country as evidenced by an Australian company involved in agricultural irrigation which came to invest in Botswana as a result of their participation at the Global Expo Botswana.
The theme for this year's event is 'Promoting Investments Through Innovative Business Partnerships and Trade' which is in line with Botswana's domestic and foreign direct investment attraction initiatives. These initiatives have focused and continue to focus on the formulation, review and implementation of policies and programmes aimed at stimulating investment and broadening the country's industrial base, and deregulating the economy with a view to strengthening the functioning of markets and to promote the emergence of a dynamic and globally competitive private sector.
The theme for Global Expo Botswana 2013 is, therefore, in synch with the Investment Strategy for Botswana, which serves as a framework through which Botswana will intensify her ongoing efforts namely:
l to attract increased levels of domestic and Foreign Direct Investment flows as a strategy for diversifying the economy;
l facilitate the creation of new sources of export revenues;
l_create employment opportunities and wealth; and
l_facilitate the process of economic diversification through upstream and downstream beneficiation of minerals and other locally available natural resources, commercial agriculture, services and business hubs, tourism, and special economic zones (free zones).
At this point, I wish to give some perspective about the exposition. Global Expo Botswana has evolved from the former Botswana International Trade Fair (BITF) and later Botswana Industrial and Agricultural Fair (BIAF). The Government of Botswana in 2006 conceptualised Global Expo Botswana as the first and only business-to-business exposition that could help the country to meet its objectives of attracting foreign direct investment, promotion of exports of locally produced goods/services and facilitating trade between Botswana and its regional and international trading partners.
The exposition is held on an annual basis, and is now running into its eighth year today.
Over the years GEB has managed to attract high calibre exhibitors and visitors from African countries such as Kenya, South Africa, Zimbabwe and Zambia as well internationally from Japan, South Korea, Poland, Italy, France, Germany, Spain and Brazil to name but a few.
Ladies and gentlemen, this year is not any different, as we are expecting a diverse group of exhibitors and business delegates from South Africa, Brazil, Poland, Kenya, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Namibia, Mozambique, Nigeria, Indonesia, South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Spain, Hungary, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Belgium, Italy and Germany. This significant achievement of securing the attendance by such a diverse group of nationalities is attributable in part, to the enhancements that have been introduced to improve this Exposition.
This eighth edition of the Global Expo Botswana has been enhanced to create greater value by the introduction of a two-day international Investment and Trade Conference that will run parallel to the exhibition. This Conference will run from tomorrow, Wednesday November 20, 2013 to Thursday November 21, 2013. The Conference will be headlined by some high-level international speakers, with the support of industry experts from both the public and private sectors. I gather that the sessions will focus on Mining, Agriculture, Information Communications Technology, Branding of Locally Manufactured Products, Special Economic Zones (SEZs), Financial Services, Botswana as a Regional Economic Hub, and Private Sector Development.
Global Expo Botswana 2013 theme which speaks to innovative business partnerships resonates well with the relocation of the marketing arm of the Diamond Trading Company International (DTC) from London to Gaborone. This is a true testimony of how global business partnerships can be leveraged to promote investment and trade.
From November 2013 more than 100 of the world's most influential diamond traders, will fly into Gaborone 10 times a year from major diamond centres such as Antwerp, Tel Aviv and New York to buy our diamonds. This is part of an Agreement between the Botswana Government and De Beers to secure a new 10-year contract for the sorting, valuing and sales of diamonds from all Debswana mines in Botswana. This new development will see the shifting of more than US$6 billion worth of annual rough diamond sales from London to Gaborone. This is a milestone in Botswana's beneficiation journey.
For our part, as government, it is our desire that this new arrangement will enhance our capacity and capabilities as a Diamond Hub that will attract a growing traffic of buyers across Africa and the world. Gaborone will certainly carve out its own niche within the highly competitive diamond trading industry. We are ready to compete effectively.
However, despite all the successes outlined above Botswana is no longer seen as the only beacon of success in Africa. A growing number of countries on our continent have become stable, democratic and increasingly attractive for investors, tourists and like spirited people.
We therefore have to continuously improve the enabling environment for the private sector, and to actively encourage them to become the driving force and main investor in our economy. Government cannot alone bring about this change. We expect that the private sector should position itself to do much more in support of the change process, especially in areas such as innovation, capacity building and skills development. While the Global Expo has established itself in Botswana's economic and commercial calendar, the Botswana Investment and Trade Centre will continue to introduce improvements to the Global Expo in order to deliver a more competitive event. The introduction of the Investment Conference to this year's Global Expo was in pursuit of this initiative. Botswana Investment and Trade Centre will bring further improvements to the 2014 Global Expo by exploring innovative partnerships with the private sector to deliver and even more competitive event with significant economic impact.
In conclusion, it is my most profound wish and hope that the goodwill built by the Botswana Investment and Trade Centre, through this significant event, will continue to benefit Botswana through the attraction of the much desired and fiercely fought for Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), the promotion of exports of locally produced goods and services into new international markets, as well as the promotion of trade between Botswana and its trading partners. I, therefore, hope that the value of business transacted at this year's Global Expo Botswana grows significantly and exceeds all.
*Vice president, Dr Ponatshego Kedikilwe's speech at the official opening of the 8th global expo botswana at the botswana conference & exhibition centre