Botswana Govt pleased with success of JCIC Programme

Botswana: The Department of Business Services Director in the Ministry of Trade and Industry, Seipati Grace Olweny, says the government is pleased with the achievements and strides that have so far been made through the Job Creation and Investment Climate (JCIC) as well as ongoing activities under the programme.

Giving opening remarks during the third Project Steering Committee meeting of the JCIC programme held in Phakalane yesterday, Olweny highlighted that among other achievements of the programme, the Doing Business Comparative Analysis had given the government food for thought on the reforms which need to be implemented to improve the doing business environment and the investment climate.

She said that some of the recommendations from the report, which they deem to be low-hanging fruits, will be implemented immediately after engaging the relevant stakeholders, adding that the JCIC programme continues to facilitate projects and activities across other components of the programme, namely: e-Government and Eco-tourism development.

Olweny also called for the harnessing of efforts by all stakeholders to ensure that all planned projects and activities are delivered as scheduled. She urged her colleagues in government, State-Owned Enterprises and beneficiary organisations to cooperate and facilitate the long and short-term experts who are brought in from time to time to work on the various activities.

For his part, the European Union (EU) Head of Cooperation, Clement Boutilir, said under the JCIC programme, the EU will, in partnership with Botswana Investment and Trade Centre, organise the first edition of the EU Botswana Business Forum on the 11th – 12th October 2023 in Gaborone.

He said the forum’s objective is to attract investors from EU countries. Therefore any improvement in the business environment and progress in the digitalisation of the economy has a direct link to the event.

“ICT and innovation, as well as financial and business services, are among the targeted sectors”, he said.

Mr Boutilir said that the outcomes of the programme are not only aligned with the government agenda to diversify and transform the economy but also build on the work done by our other programmes in support of the Economic Partnership Agreements implementation.

The rationalisation of state-owned enterprises, which are under the Ministry of Trade and Industry, is part of the activities which will be carried out under the JCIC.