SA’s exports to Botswana rise

SA exports to Botswana reached R64.4bn (P48.6bn) last year

Botswana is South Africa’s (SA) seventh largest export market, according to SA Minister of International Relations and Cooperation, Naledi Pandor.

Speaking at the Botswana-SA twoday business forum last Wednesday, Pandor said SA remains Botswana’s number one source of imports as South African exports to Botswana reached R64.4 billion (P48.6bn) last year.

“Our trade relations in recent years have revealed that our two countries maintain a robust trade relationship that has strengthened despite the pandemic,” she said.

Since the hosting of the first Bi-National Commission in 2013, Pandor said there have been 38 Memoranda of Understanding between the two countries. However, she said there is great room for future growth in the area of outward investment, the creation of industrial value chains and infrastructure development.

“Let us capitalise on this opportunity to come together and build new bridges of cooperation for the future, as our prosperity depends on the economic success of each other,” she said.

According to Pandor, both countries will benefit from an agricultural exchange adding that through economic discussions, they could further investigate the production of animal feed, fruit processing, as well as vegetable and fertiliser production.

“Botswana has abundant fertile land, yet it imports a lot of the food it consumes. This is a trend across much of the continent which we can work together to address so that we can produce more of what we require without importing from beyond our shores,” Pandor said.

Meanwhile, 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 Southern African Customs Union (SACU).

Pandor said such benefits and positive bilateral economic relations make such engagements vital for both nations as they would like to support the implementation of the SACU regional value chain and the African Continental Free Trade Area.

The two-day business forum sought to strengthen business-to-business linkages with a view to facilitating trade and investment as well as possible joint-venture partnerships. The two-day business forum saw the Botswana private sector engage their South African counterparts in roundtable sessions and business-to-business meetings.

The envisaged outcome is an improved economic relationship anchored by strategic investments in each other’s economies and collaborative solutions for regional growth.