Phikwe's first buyer/seller forum

CALISTUS KOLANTSHO
Correspondent | Tuesday August 17, 2010 00:00

 

The forum will run under the theme SPEDU Region's First Buyer/Seller Forum That Promotes Transparency.

In an interview with Mmegi Business, SPEDU's Marketing and Communications Officer, Dineo Seleke, said the aim of the forum was to bring buyers and sellers under one roof in order for them to harmonise procurement procedures and tackle common trading challenges.

The forum follows community consultations undertaken by the Assistant Minister of Trade and Industry, Maxwell Motowane.

Seleke said Motowane had delegated SPEDU to facilitate the forum, alongside the Department of Trade and Consumer Affairs, CEDA, the Local Enterprise Authority (LEA), the Department of Corporative Development and Botswana Unified Revenue Services (BURS).

'The forum will give buyers an opportunity to explain their procurement processes and their expectations on local goods and services in terms of quality and standards,' Seleke said.

'Sellers will also express their challenges regarding their goods and services penetrating the local market, how the tendering and evaluation process impacts on their businesses and related issues.'

Seleke said from SPEDU's and Minister Motowane's consultations, it was clear that procurement procedures needed to be further clarified and the quality of the region's products upgraded so that competition was enhanced as conditions for market access.

The consultations had also shown that contractors (sellers) were not sufficiently kenned up on trade related issues.  Seleke said the absence of transparency always gave rise to confusion, misconceptions and mistrust that disturbed the performance of agents of economic development.

'Therefore, as stakeholders in the forum, we want to ensure that our region is free from such impediments so that it becomes the most preferred environment for both local and foreign investors,' she said.

Participants in the forum have been drawn from the entire Selebe-Phikwe region in the areas of Retail, Finance, Service, Mining, Agriculture, Tourism and Motor Service Stations and Garages.