Gaborone: I welcome you all to this 34th meeting of the High Level Consultative Council.  Members of the Council will recall that we have previously addressed our minds to the issue of reducing red tape in the country, with a view to improving the business environment for Foreign Direct Investment as well as the growth of domestic companies. As we are all aware there is also opportunity for Botswana to improve its competitiveness.  In our last meeting, I mentioned that the Botswana Economic Advisory Council directed the National Strategy Office to engage the World Bank to acquire expertise to partner with us in improving our business environment. 

Durban: The Botswana Development Corporation (BDC) is assessing areas for investment in the region, including in South Africa, as part of its recently launched cross-border investment initiative, Mmegi Business has learnt. The BDC, one of the few profit-making parastatals, participated in the recently ended Tourism Indaba held in Durban where it held several meetings with potential investment targets. Several senior officials, including acting managing director James Kamyuka added weight to the corporation's efforts to kick-off its efforts towards an African footprint with a possible investment in tourism.

Gaborone: At the meeting of the Coal and Energy Meeting in Gaborone two weeks ago, Peet Meyer, a reputed and generally highly regarded geologist, made a presentation which rocked those present and subsequently had reverberations throughout the mining industry in Botswana, as well as regionally. What Meyer said is that the resource figure that the Government of Botswana had long been using for Botswana's coal of 212 billion tonnes was a gross exaggeration and that a far more accurate figure would be in the vicinity of 33 billion tonnes or a sixth of the government estimates.

Washington: Botswana has been one of the most successful countries in the developing world over the last 40 years by many measures. Incomes have grown at a sustained pace, poverty has fallen, and the citizenry has become more educated. To be sure, poverty and income inequalities remain a problem, but rising standards of living have meant a better life for this generation of Batswana than any before it. The question facing the country’s leadership is whether this commendable performance can be sustained into the next generation. There are clouds on the horizon that cannot be ignored. Diamond earnings, the life blood of decades of prosperity, have flattened out. In per capita terms they are falling.

Gaborone:  Shell Botswana country chairman, Willie Mokgatlhe is set to become the founding chief executive of the National Oil Company of Botswana. Mokgatlhe who has worked for Shell, now officially known as Vivo Energy for about two decades will take up his post at the state oil company on July 1.  "Yes, that's the aim. I am currently serving notice with my current employer. Unfortunately, I cannot say much about the state oil company mandate as I am still an employee of Shell for the next two months," Mokgatlhe told Mmegi Business.

Bulawayo: The Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (Zimra) and the Botswana Unified Revenue Service have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to start negotiations to establish a one-stop border post at the Plumtree port of entry. A one-stop concept at a port of entry is a facility that combines and integrates the border formalities of one or more countries at the point where those countries share a common border. It enables officials from the countries concerned to work closely together, usually under the same roof for efficient border management by, at times, performing their similar functions at the same time and eliminating duplication of functions.

Gaborone:  Botswana Railways is powering ahead with the procurement of up to 562 specialised wagons to support the country's blossoming exports of coal and other commodities, a top official has said. Botswana Railways (BR) CEO, Dominic Ntwaagae said the on-going re-fleeting programme comes courtesy of the initial P300 million boost from government as part of the parastatal's 2006 turnaround strategy. The parastatal's shopping list includes 204 high-sided wagons, 34 coal hoppers and 34 down-sided wagons, designed to both replenish its lean fleet and meet the demands of coal producers eager to tap into export markets. Other items are 290 salt wagons of which 160 have already been supplied by a subsidiary of the South African parastatal, Transnet.

Windhoek:  An agreement on a N$100 billion railway deal between Namibia and Botswana that was scheduled to be signed in Namibia on Saturday has been “postponed until further noticeâ€�.

Maputo:  The Mozambican government has awarded the concession for construction of the deep water port of Techobanine, in the Matutuíne district of Maputo province, the Mozambican prime minister announced. According to daily newspaper Notícias, Alberto Vaquina did not, however, identify the contractor for the project costing an estimated US$7 billion, which will be funded by the Mozambican and Botswana governments.

Francistown:  Botswana's assistant Trade and Industry Minister Keletso Rakhudu on Thursday said the country would cut its overall import bill by 50 percent by the end of this financial year if not completely having the money circulating locally. Addressing a business stakeholder meeting in Francistown, Botswana's second largest city, Rakhudu said the country is seeking to cut the import bill through the recently introduced Economic Diversification Drive (EDD).