ProCórdoba Agency together with other entities participated in an institutional and trade mission to Botswana with the aim of knowing the productive reality of the country, presenting Argentina and the province of Córdoba, revising the productive sectors and making an introduction about the Agency and its services.
The export promotion Agency bets on strengthening the institutional links with the African country after the visits of the Ambassador of Botswana, Bernadette Rathedi, to our province during 2014 and 2015 and in the framework of the proposal for opening the African market to companies from Córdoba.
The delegation of the mission to Botswana was made up of Roberto Rossotto, General Manager of ProCórdoba Agency and Nicolás Avalle, member of the work team of the area of Cooperation and International Relations and the delegation's translator, Hugo Ribba on behalf of Afamac, Nahuel Di Paolo on behalf of Córdoba Technology Cluster and Sitti S.A, Esteban Atti on behalf of the Foreign Trade Chamber of Córdoba, the Cluster Med Tech and Silmag S.A.
During the stay, different meetings with government officials from the African country were held. They presented the productive sectors putting emphasis on the fields of agriculture, technology and health. They also highlighted Botswana as the production centre within the continent.
Among the official institutions, the delegation from Córdoba held meetings with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and visited the Botswana Investment and Trade Centre – BITC. In this case, the delegation was welcomed by the Chief Executive Officer, Letsebe Sejoe, who explained about this public organization. He is responsible for the promotion of trade activities. Sejoe talked about the need to reinforce the institutional link between BITC and ProCórdoba regarding trade promotion and technical assistance to companies. He highlighted the important experience of ProCórdoba in the sector.
In the agricultural sector, there were meetings with authorities of the Ministry of Agriculture in Botswana, the Botswana Agricultural Marketing Board (BAMB) and the Botswana Meat Commission (BMC). In general, at the meetings, it was talked about the great interest in working together with our country, because of Argentina's reputation in the agricultural sector. From de delegation of Córdoba, the Argentina's opportunity to contribute to the agricultural development of the country was highlighted. Moreover, it was offered to contact different organizations with the National Agricultural Ministry and the National Institution of Agricultural Technology (INTA) to continue working together.
The General Manager of ProCórdoba Agency said:
"After Rathedi's visits to our country in 2014 and 2015, we saw the opportunity to do business in Botswana. We took advantage of the visit to know the country and its projects in the agricultural sector.”
Regarding the health sector, meetings with the Health Ministry and different private companies were held. It is important to say that there is little experience on the part of the African country in the sector and therefore, foreign companies may have business opportunities in the country. The need to turn the country into a medical tourism center within the continent was also considered.
On its part, the Córdoba Technology Cluster offered to share expertise and its services in the institutional sector as well as in the technical one, in the different meetings that were held with all the sectors and mainly in the meetings held with Botswana Innovation Hub and COBITS as governing bodies in the field of technological development in this country.
In addition to the above-mentioned meetings, in the private sector, there were meetings with Business Botswana (Association of Entrepreneurs that encompasses different productive sectors of the country) and with the Botswana Exporters and Producers Chamber. The representatives of each sector exhibited the characteristics of the sectors and the possible business opportunities, mainly in the automobile, energy, TICs and agricultural sectors.
At the end of the mission, Esteban Atti, representative of the Foreign Trade Chamber of Córdoba and Silmag S.A., talked about the experience and the results a priori after the trip:
"The main aim was to search the market, its potentiality and business opportunities. We had very good expectations despite not knowing the situation of the health sector of that country. In the mission we were able to contact the Ministry of Health and the purchasing area of the Ministry directly. There was interest in the goods that were traded by the Cluster Med Tech. To know the market volume, they committed themselves to sending a report with the details of the last tenders of the public sector. On the other hand, we were able to make direct contact with distributors/importers to whom we presented our products and the result was positive. A market research is being carried out and a possible trade is being analyzed."
Esteban Atti closed his presentation about the trade mission to Botswana with an important point for the health sector: the medical supplies do not need to be registered in the country for import.
Botswana is a sovereign state without a sea outlet in South Africa. It is a Parliamentary republic. Its territory is divided into 9 districts. The country’s capital is Gaborone.
