NEIGHBOURLY LOVE South African outfit train BOTC on Automotive Programme
Neighbourly love was out in full force last week as International Trade Administration Commission (ITAC) of South Africa were in town to help Botswana Trade Commission (BOTC) fine-tune their Automotive Production and Development Programme.
The Mzansi entity held a four-day workshop at GICC in a bid to pass on its expertise.
Speaking to Voice Money at the end of the benchmarking exercise on Friday, acting BOTC Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Shirley Moncho, explained ITAC were here to impart their knowledge
“They were training our officers and we had other participants from the Ministry of Investment, Trade and Industry and BURS and Ministry of Agricultural Development and Food Security. We thought we need to understand what the programme entails. It will require us to identify a strategic industry that Botswana would want to develop to create employment,” mentioned Moncho.
ITAC Senior Manager Tariffs Investigations Department, Phatheka Busika, revealed they initially met with BOTC in October and received a further request for assistance to better understand the programme.
“We will continue engaging until BOTC is ready to implement the programme. Coming here made a difference. Participants could ask questions and the approach that we took was also to share the examples so that they can apply the principles and the policy they were referring to,” said Busika, adding Botswana needs to create an environment for the motor industry to come and settle in the country.
“They need to develop those industries because without them it might be a challenge to implement the programme. They can custom-make the exact programme that we took them through to suit their needs,” said Busika.
She said whatever Botswana eventually comes up with must fit in with the SACU legislative framework.
“As ITAC, one of our mandates is to administer the automotive and production development programme within member states [of SACU],” noted Busika.