WELCOME TO BOTSWANA IN DUBAI

The country will showcase its arts and culture at the World Expo 2020 in Dubai over a period of six months

Botswana will join close to 190 countries at the international showcase, dubbed the World Expo 2020 Dubai in the united Araba Emirates ( UAE).

The showcasing that is slated to bring together exhibitors and an estimated 25 million visitors from across the world will run over a period of six months, and will be launched this October in a week. The event is held under the theme: Connecting Minds, Creating the Future. If there is one thing that UAE are best known for, it is their craft and ability to do the impossible when it comes to technology and innovation. The expo will give visitors an experience of a lifetime, as they will get to transverse all of the 190 countries, and experience the magic of these countries in spectacular fashion. In a nutshell, visitors will experience the food, music and crafts, and innovations from these countries through designated country pavilions. This is a first in the history of Expo. This will allow visitors to ‘ enjoy immersive cultural experiences and discover what makes each country unique as you explore hundreds of pavilions. Botswana is all about creating new possibilities through the right connections, and is offering visitors with front row seats to get a glimpse of the rich cultural discovery, exhibitions, gift and souvenir shop at the Mobility District Pavillion. Visitors are promised a chance to get up close and personal with Botswana’s prestigious diamonds, and conceptualise their own pieces using AR technology, taking a visual tour of Botswana’s wildlife, flora and fauna through VR and 4D experiences as well as joining collaborators to create new possibilities through cinema augmented and virtual reality. Taking Botswana to Dubai Expo 2020 is a collaboration between the Botswana Investment Trade and Centre ( BITC) and the Ministry of Youth Empowerment, Sport and Culture Development. Initially, the Expo was scheduled to take place in 2020 but was postponed due to the Covid- 19 pandemic. One of the key highlights about the event is the fact that the Ministry has collected arts and craft from local producers across the country including basketry, leatherwork, bead work, pottery, wire sculptures, wood carvings, and fashion garments will be showcased at the event. Two hundred and twenty artists benefitted from this procurement of their products at a total of P988, 567.00. For Botswana, the event will culminate with a Botswana National Day in March 2022 to celebrate Botswana with the world. Over the course of the six months duration of the Expo, several local artists are expected to participate at the global event on a rotational basis. Besides performing at events hosted by Botswana, the selected artists will be availed other opportunities by the Expo organisers to perform alongside international artists; giving them exposure, and networking opportunities. In total, an estimated 114 local artists are pencilled to showcase their talents during the six months period. Speaking in an interview with this publication on Monday this week, the Director of Arts & Culture, Gao Lemmenyane explained that the main idea of being part of the expo, which happens to be the biggest international event since the Covid- 19 turned the world upside down, is to go and sell Botswana as an investment destination and a place for tourism and leisure as well as a place for cultural tourism. “We want to attract the world to Botswana, and we want to be able to sell Botswana products to the world. We are going to showcase at the expo,” he said adding that Botswana’s representation is being coordinated by BITC. He explained that it has not been easy to put together everything for the expo which was postponed last year. The Ministry had already purchased all the products that will be showcased at the expo. This he said, includes crafts from people across, baskets, clothing attires made by local designers, pottery from organisation such as Thamaga pottery. “We bought crafts from across the country worth about P1 million. We purchased these items from local producers, and they have been paid. We are going to sell them in Dubai,” he said. He also said that the idea was to be able to strike relationships/ partnerships so that local products can have places in Art Galleries. “We are negotiating with galleries in Dubai, and other countries. There will be representation from 190 countries, and they will pass through our Pavilion; we can negotiate with galleries to have them,” he said. One of the challenges they might face, he said, is capacity to produce large quantities of products in the event that there is demand for some of these art works.

For instance, he said that they wanted to know if say for example, 10 000 CD’s were ordered from local artists, or 4000 baskets would they be able to meet the demand. “They have informed us that they do not want situations where people will want products and they will not be available,” he explained.

Something that they needed to work on, he said was a way to capacitate local artists/ producers so that they can meet the world demand. “We believe that there will be a lot of interest,” he noted.