Botswana is in the process of developing a National African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Implementation Strategy to capitalise on the opportunities provided by the continental trade organisation.
In its role of providing technical assistance to Member States, the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) has announced that it is spearheading a project to develop national AfCFTA strategies.
“In the case of Botswana, key strategies and frameworks including the National Development Plan (NDP) 11, Botswana Vision 2036, the National Transformation Strategy and the National Trade Policy for Botswana, among others, will be key reference documents in the drafting of the strategy,” said ECA in a document seen by this publication.
The ECA stated that through the National AfCFTA Strategy and Implementation Plans, Botswana and other member states are expected to identify their comparative advantages for economic diversification, as well as prioritise value chains to be developed. This is intended to support economic diversification and maximise trade potential under the Agreement.
According to the document, in addition to sectors with a comparative advantage, the National AfCFTA Strategy should ideally identify emerging sectors and industries that can position Botswana to integrate into regional and global value chains, enabling the production of competitive, higher value-added goods.
“Cross-cutting issues to be considered in the strategy include but are not limited to gender mainstreaming, youth, people living with disabilities and environmental and climate change mitigation strategies and green industrialisation technologies,” reads the document.
The document also says the national implementation strategy will need to be inclusive in the way it supports trade to achieve the intended development goals through adequate consideration of pertinent gender, youth and people living with disabilities issues.
The ECA notes that the liberalisation of trade impacts men and women differently due to the different economic and social positions they occupy.
“Thus, developing a gender-sensitive approach is necessary to mitigate the negative impact of trade policies on women and enhance the positive outcomes for women to strengthen the overall effectiveness of these policies,” ECA says.
The organisation said in developing the envisaged National AfCFTA Strategy and Implementation Plan for trade in both goods and services, a communications plan and the attendant Monitoring and Evaluation framework for the strategy will also be developed.
The document says the National Consultative Forum will be organised to engage relevant national stakeholders in the process of developing the National AfCFTA Strategy and Implementation Plan. An inception report detailing the processes, steps, milestones, etc. involved in the development of the national AfCFTA strategy as per the Guidelines for developing African Continental Free Trade Area national strategies, to be made available by ECA will also be prepared.
The report also highlights that broad and inclusive consultations with all relevant stakeholders at both national and local levels, as determined in collaboration with the ECA, Botswana’s Ministry of Industry and Trade, and other key stakeholders, will be organised.
The drafting process should be informed by an assessment of national and regional industrialisation, production, and export strategies and policies that may impact trade between Botswana and its trading partners. It should also include an analysis of Botswana’s production ecosystem and the provision of priority and emerging goods and services for the AfCFTA market, as well as a review of the AfCFTA Agreement’s framework and its intended protocols.
It shall also be informed by an analysis of Botswana’s goods and services sectors and identify export markets, analysis of how Protocols on women and youth and digital trade will impact the Botswana economy with integration of considerations in relation to MSMEs.
The strategy shall also be informed by value addition and value chain development, gender, youth and social inclusion, Identification of risks related to AfCFTA implementation including those pertaining to revenue loss, macroeconomic vulnerability, jobs, human rights, the environment, etc. and outline/proffer appropriate mitigation actions and proffer actionable recommendations.
There shall also be an assessment of the national and regional (SACU, SADC, and Tripartite) industrialisation, trade and value chain production strategies and policies as they impact trade between Botswana and her trading partners and recommend areas for possible reform opportunities for tapping into regional value chains for domestic production and/or further value addition.
