Botswana is preparing to enhance its trade with the European Union (EU), which has been relatively low and not diversified to date, as well as entice companies to establish production facilities in the country.
Botswana Investment and Trade Centre (BITC) chief executive officer, Keletsositse Olebile, said government had been proactive in entering into bilateral and multilateral trade agreements, which were active and enforced through the Southern African Development Community (SADC).
He was speaking at the opening of the Global Expo Botswana (GEB) 2023 earlier this month.
Olebile assured the EU business community that Botswana could give them access to more than 293 million consumers across the SADC region.
He added that through the Southern African Customs Union (SACU), Botswana had signed a number of sub-agreements with regional groupings around the world, indicating that SACU had an agreement with the Mercado Común del Sur (MERCOSUR) countries which includes access to South American countries.
He also said SACU has an agreement with the UK after Brexit and it had agreements with the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa, better known as Comesa, the largest regional economic organisation in Africa, with 19 member states and a population of about 390 million.
Furthermore, Olebile said Botswana was a beneficiary under African Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa), which gave it unlimited product lines to export to the US and lastly the African Continental Free Trade Area.
Olebile said it effectively suggests that should the EU business sector come to Botswana to produce any product, the agreement would give them preferential access to almost all markets across the globe.
