Botswana Investment and Trade Centre — Merging Investment and Export Promotion

The Botswana Investment and Trade Centre (BITC) began operating in 2012 after Parliament merged the Botswana Export Development and Investment Agency (BEDIA) and the International Financial Services Centre (IFSC) into a single Investment and Trade Promotion Authority, tasked with attracting FDI, promoting exports of locally manufactured goods, and managing the national 'Botswana' brand as part of the country's Economic Diversification Drive away from diamond dependence.

BITC's Export Development Programme (EDP) gives exporting firms in textiles and garments, leather and leather goods, jewellery, furniture, glass products, chemicals and meat processing intensive support — market access assistance, standards compliance and trade missions — to help them establish footholds in regional and international markets.

In the 2020/21 financial year, BITC reported facilitating P1.38 billion in FDI against an annual target of P1.8 billion, and P2.96 billion in export earnings against a P3.5 billion target, according to Botswana's Mmegi newspaper — both shortfalls attributed to COVID-19 disruption. More than a decade after BITC's creation, Botswana's economy remains heavily dependent on diamond mining, and independently verified evidence of broad-based export diversification driven specifically by BITC's programmes remains limited.

Read the full analysis: https://www.bitc.co.bw/