Speaking at the summit, President Mokgweetsi Masisi said Botswana still has a stable economic outlook to set up and operate in the country despite the pandemic having chipped away at some sectoral gains.
“We have, as a country, managed to maintain a positive economic outlook going forward, with both Moody’s and Standard and Poor’s rating agencies, giving us an 'A' sovereign credit ratings, the only country in mainland sub-Saharan Africa to have such a rating," he said.
On his part, the Minister of Trade and Industry, Mmusi Kgafela said it was paramount for Africa to increase intra-continental trade and industrialisation.
“For us to increase the intra-continental trade we’ve got to industrialise.
It could be because in the past there wasn't much intra-continental trade and I would attribute that to the fact that industrialisation was not there either. So we need to manufacture and that is what we are working on,” he said.
Minister Kgafela pointed out that before the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) was operationalised, Botswana had put together an industrialisation policy as foresight on the importance of industrialisation within the country.
“If you look at what the intentions of the AfCFTA as set out in its objectives, you will find that industrialisation is part of it. A lot of it has to do with the removal of tariffs to make it easy for Africans to trade.”
The minister and his fellow panellists’ discussions centred around how African governments are retooling their industrialisation strategies to meet the basic needs of growing populations, creating jobs and wealth, promoting the African Union's Vision 2063, and drawing lessons learned from COVID.
