Botswana, SA celebrate trade relations

In celebration and commemoration of 28 years of bilateral economic relations, Botswana’s Ministry of Trade and Industry together with South Africa’s Department of Trade, Industry and Competition are convening a High-Level Business Forum and Roundtable this week.

The two-day event will see the Botswana private sector engage their South African counterparts in roundtable sessions and B2B meetings. The main objectives of the Business Forum and Roundtable are to encourage business linkages between the two countries to facilitate trade and investment as well as for possible joint-venture partnerships. Alongside the roundtable discussions will be a trade expo that will take place over two days. From these engagements,

both countries anticipate outcomes regarding the identification and recommendation of measures to address trade and investment barriers between the two countries. The engagement will also focus on the identification of trade and investment opportunities as a basis to strengthen cooperation at government and private sector levels to advance localisation, joint export promotion efforts, and industrialisation efforts.

Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Trade and Industry, Malebogo Morakaladi said the expo seeks to identify a package of concrete actions to create a conducive environment to strengthen business-to-business linkages and cooperation to support the implementation of Southern African Customs Union (SACU) Regional Value Chains and the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).

“The main objective of the engagements is to provide a forum for business executives from the two countries to engage in meaningful dialogue with high-level government executives, led by the two Presidents, to address trade and investment barriers as well as explore modalities to leverage trade and investment opportunities that abound between the two countries.

The envisaged outcome is an improved economic relationship anchored by strategic investments in each other’s economies and

collaborative solutions for regional growth,” Morakaladi said.

Botswana’s economy is highly open to trade, with imports and exports accounting for more than 80% of the country’s GDP. Due to its small market, it has signed several trade relations with other countries for market access and industrialisation. Most critical is that Botswana’s fortunes are heavily tied to South Africa through its membership in SACU due to the high levels of bilateral trade. South Africa is the major import partner for Botswana with a market share of about 56.8% in 2021.

Additionally, Botswana benefits from regional economic integration and the facilitation of duty-free movement of goods with a common external tariff on goods entering any of the countries from outside SACU. Such benefits and positive bilateral economic relations make such engagements vital for both nations.