Germans eye Botswana's energy and water sectors

Brian Benza
Staff Writer | Wednesday February 17, 2010 00:00

 

The visit, which is the culmination of BEDIA's   efforts to lure investors from around the world, is expected to boost foreign direct investment and trade between the two countries which is currently negligible.

Speaking at a seminar to brief the Germans on the opportunities in Botswana in Gaborone yesterday, BEDIA CEO Jacob Nkate was  hopeful that  the coming of the delegation marks the beginning of a fruitful bilateral economic and investment relationship between the two countries .

'  As we come out of the recession, I believe the beginning of this partnership will benefit both sides and I hope to see serious business ventures produced by this visit,' he said. BEDIA director of Public relations and communications Kungo Lentswe said that the delegation which is in Botswana to explore investment opportunities in the agriculture, water resources, mining and energy sectors, is reciprocating a similar visit by BEDIA to German last year.

' They are here at the invitation of our London office and we are going to take them to various parts of the country to expose them to the opportunities that Botswana has to offer to the countries,' she said.

BEDIA, which won the annual Africa Investor Investment and Business Leaders Awards last year, also hosted a similar delegation last month from India, where they have also established an office. Deputy German Ambassador to Botswana Karl Hofinger says that he is hopeful the coming of the delegation will boost economic activity between the two countries which is currently very low.

' At present there are no big German companies that operate in Botswana except for representative offices of companies such as Volkswagen or Mecerdes Benz.

'Trade between the two countries is also very minimal with Germany only importing beef and textile from here while Botswana mainly import machinery from Germany,' he said.

The delegation which will be in the country until Saturday is expected to meet captains of industry and will also visit the BCL mine, Tati Nickel mine, Morupule colliery and power station and the newly established 70 MW APR diesel power station near Francistown.

Among some of the companies represented in the delegation include Aggretech which manufactures emergency diesel generator sets ; Firstclimate, a carbon asset management company; Herrenknecht, whose product range includes machines for traffic and transport tunnels and Siemens AG  which provide  solutions for power generation, transmission and distribution .

Other companies are involved in  environmental and engineering consultancy, foodstuffs , water pipes and valves, cement manufacturing and  vehicle testing devices.