Highlights
Foreign direct investment (FDI) was a driving force in Botswana ´s rapid graduation from a least developed to a middle-income country. The government´s handling of the fiscal, social and economic pressures of this transformation could be a model for other resource-dependent economies. At the time of the IPR, and with an eye on empowering its citizens, the government was proposing a foreign investment code restricting FDI in a number of industries. The IPR suggested an alternative approach to FDI, making the case for a modern foreign investment law and building on the country´s historically welcoming regime. This meant developing a coherent FDI strategy, rooted in Botswana´s existing investment attractiveness (conferred by its excellent governance) but embracing additional, more pro-active elements. These include:
- Taking full advantage of market access arrangements.
- Reinforcing such temporal advantages through attention to sustained long-term policy actions aimed at direct competitiveness factors.
- Encouraging local private business and the development of human resources.
- Ensuring the coherence and consistency of Botswana´s policies, including investment promotion efforts.
Follow-up activities
Following the publication of the IPR, UNCTAD has assisted the government in a number of ways, with funding from UNDP.
- It provided the government with drafts of an overall investment promotion strategy and an investment law.
- It provided advisory support on integrating FDI into a national development strategy
- It provided training for government officials on the negotiations of bilateral investment treaties.
- It organised a round of negotiations in which a number of BITs were successfully concluded by Botswana .
- UNCTAD has also provided a benchmarking study on the work and residence permit system, identified by the IPR as an issue that needed to be addressed to improve the country´s investment environment.
- It assisted the government in the elaboration of an investment promotion strategy for the country´s garments and textiles sector.
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