Botswana on charm offensive at Expo2020Dubai

Botswana’s six- month charm offensive at the Expo2020Dubai – a global exposition featuring 190 countries – culminated in a highstakes trade and investment conference Monday 14th March 2022 at the Ritz Carlton, DIFC, Dubai, UAE. Headlined by President Dr. Mokgweetsi Masisi, who is gradually carving himself a reputation as the country’s No. 1 salesman, the conference was a convergence of all the work and activities that began, according to Botswana Investment and Trade Centre’s ( BITC) Chief Operations Officer, Malebogo Morakaladi, with an invitation from the United Arab Emirates to participate in the exposition. On this Monday morning, the UAE state delegation, which included private businesses, was led by the Minister of State for Foreign Trade, Ministry of Economy, H. E. Dr. Thani Al Zeyoudi, who in his welcome remarks, described the conference as an ideal occasion. It was an ideal prospect, he said, to review the “many investment opportunities” between the UAE and Botswana as well as to strengthen dialogue between “our respective private sectors”. And indeed the private businesses of both countries found time to network and explore investment leads in various sectors. According to Dr. Thani Al Zeyoudi, the UAE and Botswana share a longstanding partnership in the scope of trade and investment ties. His stats show the total volume of trade between the two countries reaching $ 2, 5 billion in 2021 reflecting an 85percent growth in comparison to 2014. Further, the UAE’s total investments in the African continent amounted to $ 170 billion by the end of 2019 accounting for 70percent of the total FDI on the continent, Dr. Thani Al Zeyoudi, said. But what tickled the Botswana delegation’s fancy - which had equally deployed both its state and private sector functionaries - was Al Zeyoudi’s promise that “we are willing to explore more opportunities in Botswana”. Indeed there are bright prospects that these opportunities will eventuate in investable commercial enterprises, according to Botswana’s Minister of Investment, Trade and Industry, Mmusi Kgafela. His optimism was buoyed by the two business seminars that were held in Abu Dhabi on 8th March and 10th March respectively covering agriculture and food security as well as mining and minerals beneficiation. There were also business to business meetings for industries including the Africa Commission, which Kgafela hailed as “a great success” that had brought businesses in different sectors such as agribusiness, energy, renewable, innovation, sustainability, digitisation and development funding opportunities. These engagements, said Kgafela, created opportunities for both countries to increase investment and trade between them. At present Botswana’s imports from the amount to UAE $ 280 million while exports to UAE amount to $ 823million. Kgafela expressed confidence that there is scope for “increased trade” between the two countries across other products and services such as within the agriculture value chain and the tourism sector. Botswana, he said, remains committed to “nurture these engagements to realise the investment and stands ready to facilitate you”, he invited the UAE business delegation. The message is loud and clear – Botswana has positioned herself as an investment destination of choice, a convenient and safe place in which an investor can put his money! Only time will tell, but the prospects, given what transpired at the Expo2020Dubai, one dares says, are tempting.

Perhaps that is why it was easy for President Masisi to boldly declare to Eleni Giokos, the CNN Abu Dhabi correspondent in their one- on- one conversation, that agriculture is one of the low- hanging fruits available for investors.