BETP Labs Set New Path

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BETP Labs Set New Path
BETP Labs Set New Path

Africa-Press – Botswana. The Botswana Economic Transformation Programme (BETP) labs, launched yesterday will become the engine rooms to set a new economic path for the country, President Advocate Duma Boko has said.

Delivering the keynote address to the BETP Lab launch in Gaborone on August 11, President Boko said the labs would sharpen project concepts, design road maps, set key performance indicators, annual targets and work on removing any barriers to progress.

“The BETP labs that we are launching today represent a critical turning point in our journey towards a high income status economy. Over the next four weeks, these labs will be the engine room of the Economic Transformation Programme. Six economic and three social labs will run focused sessions,” said President Boko.

He revealed that, guided by data and economic rigour, the Cabinet had identified seven sectors where Botswana has a comparative advantage which would become focus areas where investment and reforms could unlock rapid inclusive growth.

President Boko outlined these as agriculture, manufacturing, infrastructure, financial services and digitalisation, tourism, energy, water and mining, as well as social sectors.

In seeking to attain food security, rural development and agro-industrial opportunities, government would seek to raise the contribution of agriculture to the gross domestic product (GDP) from two to six per cent, the President said.

Additionally, value addition manufacturing with job creating and regional export capacity, and infrastructure development in the transport, logistics and utilities to position Botswana as a logistics hub for the Southern African Development Community (SADC) would be pursued.

“These sectors are strategic, deliberate and where our True North will become tangible. That True North envisions a high income status Botswana that is digitally enabled, export driven, people-centric, and economically diversified; a Botswana where every citizen enjoys equal opportunity, is employed, empowered and fulfilled,” Advocate Boko stated.

Vice President and Minister of Finance, Mr Ndaba Gaolathe said the labs would assist in directing the BETP process which would unlock the economic opportunities and become a lodestar for Botswana’s economic transformation.

He detailed that from the moment the BETP was launched, approximately 3 500 project submissions were made from citizens, entrepreneurs, farmers and private entities, both domestic and foreign.

Recently, Cabinet met to look at the true north, prioritisation.

Mr Gaolathe said the technical team had started work on the 200 high impact projects that had been identified, to be tested and strengthened for implementation.

He lauded those who submitted and those who had also contributed ideas, stating that this was a defining chapter of the country’s history.

“Some of the submissions are extraordinary and some do not require government funding. The labs we launch are the engine where Botswana’s economic ambition will be put into action,” Mr Gaolathe said.

He said the action reforms proposed by the BETP and the work of its labs would advise the implemention of the upcoming 12th National Development Plan (NDP 12) as Botswana works on attaining a higher income status economy.

PEMANDU Associates, joint managing director and partner, Ms Aida Azmi, said the BETP technical partners gave an overview of the labs scope and work plan.

She also detailed how the PEMANDU Big, Fast Results methodology had brought economic transformation to economies such as Malaysia, St Luci, Senegal and Rwanda, and collaborated with highly respected institutions including the World Bank Group as well as United States of America Ivy League universities, Harvard and Princeton.

Ms Azmi said they would tailor their work in Botswana around the country’s own peculiar needs and economic dynamics in order to ensure global best practice and that it suited the country’s circumstances.

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