Govt seeks to ease environment for private sector
Isaac Pinielo | Friday November 27, 2015 14:49
Over the last two years the Ministry of Trade and Industry has been actively involved in the development of the reform roadmap and action plan, which was done in collaboration with the World Bank to improve the business environment in the country as well as its competitiveness.
To this end the reform process is intended to reduce government bureaucracy, eliminate unfriendly business laws and regulations, improve service delivery, reduce tedious paper work as well as leverage on ICT applications.
Speaking at the Global Expo Botswana (GEB) in Gaborone yesterday, Vice President Mokgweetsi Masisi said Doing Business Reforms Roadmap is a benchmark of what competitor countries are doing to improve their investment climate. “It is my expectation that initiatives in the Doing Business Reform Programme will lead to a reduction in the cost and time of doing business thereby improving the competitive edge of local businesses,” said Masisi.
According to the VP, the successful implementation of the roadmap will place Botswana among the best performers in terms of global competitiveness.
Organised by the Botswana Investment and Trade Centre (BITC), GEB provides an unmatched opportunity for the local business community to meet and develop strategic business partnerships with multitudes of attendees from all over the world.
This year, the event is graced by 200 exhibitors, conferences delegates and business visitors from Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, South Africa, Swaziland, Zimbabwe, the Czech Republic, France, Hungary, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Spain, Hong Kong, Indonesia as well as India.
The conference focuses on topics of great significance and importance to the economy of Botswana such as Business Process Outsourcing (BPO), Export Financing, harnessing the Special Economic Zones as well as what Botswana can do to compete with other countries and attract Foreign Direct Investment. It is also intended to maximise business exposure in the market and thus afford the opportunity to build new business relationships, introduce new products in the market place, gain valuable insights on maximising business sales, efficiency, team building as well as motivating and networking.
“Attracting such a diversified pool of business people from around the globe is testimony to the fact that Botswana is making strides in improving her doing business environment and thus making Botswana a destination of choice for important global investors,” said Masisi. In addition, one of the core activities of the GEB is the business match-making exercise programme, which is an initiative intended to manage and create targeted one in one meetings between exhibitors and visitors in order to avail an opportunity for them to discuss business prospects.
For his part ,the Minister of Trade and Industry, Vincent Seretse said GEB is also a vehicle that facilitates and stimulates intra-regional and international trade between Botswana and other trading nations of the world.
“We have noted that for a country to be a good player in the global arena there is need to pay particular attention to issues related to both competitiveness and investment climate,” Seretse noted.