Botswana Exporters and Manufacturers Association (BEMA) workshop, themed ‘Export Competitiveness through Strategic Alliances: A case For Joint Ventures’ was held recently in Francis town. At the inauguration ceremony Brett Johnson, the AGOA Trade and Business Manager in Botswana, revealed that exports to the US had earned around US $252 million or BWP 1.6 billion last year. Textile and apparel sector accounted for nearly $28 million.

He said US market is very competitive and demanding. You are competing with producers from all over the world who also want to penetrate the American market. African companies face cost, capacity and delivery challenges and need to improve quantity as well as quality.

Acting Deputy Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Trade and Industry, Alexander Babedi, also backed Johnson and said that domestic companies have looked at Government as their chief consumer and have not focused on export markets.

In addition AGOA and Botswana also has duty free access to SACU markets and the EU through the Cotonou Agreement. This has unfortunately has been very limited because Botswana companies lack the necessary capacity and technical know-how to supply a huge market such as the US.