Africa-Press – Botswana. The volume of trade between Botswana and South Africa is high and it is important that the two nations engage on how to improve their economic linkage further.
Minister for International Relations, Dr Phenyo Butale said this in an interview yesterday before President Advocate Duma Boko and his South African counterpart, Mr Cyril Ramaphosa meeting at the Union Buildings in South Africa.
“This is part of our policy of strengthening regional integration. Botswana and South Africa are important trading partners, we would like to improve our trade levels further,” Dr Butale said.
He further said President Boko being fairly new in the office, had a duty to visit key trading partners and share his vision on deriving greater beneficial trade.
“The President would like to share his vision with his counterpart as he wants Botswana to rapidly develop and trade more with her neighbours. We want to be an economy that generates jobs and income streams; a producer, not just a consumer nation, and we have to work with our neighbours in adding value to our goods,” Dr Butale said.
He gave the example that Botswana mined soda ash, while South Africa had lithium, and the two minerals could be combined to produce lithium carbonate used in batteries, which collaborations could be pursued to industrialise the region.
Dr Butale also reiterated that while Botswana currently imported electricity from South Africa to supplement domestic energy needs, the country was working on investing in large-scale solar energy that would make Botswana a net electricity exporter in the foreseeable future. The African Continental Free Trade Agreement offers states such as Botswana and South Africa an opportunity to boost intra African trade, Dr Butale added.
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