BOTSWANA EMBARKS ON ECONOMIC TRANSFORMATION JOURNEY WITH LAUNCH OF BETP LABS

Botswana has taken a significant step towards transforming its economy with the launch of the Botswana Economic Transformation Programme (BETP) Labs. This initiative aims to drive economic growth, job creation, and competitiveness by transitioning from a resource-based economy to a diversified, services-led economy. In his keynote address, President Advocate Duma Gideon Boko emphasized the need for a paradigm shift in the country's development approach. He highlighted the importance of unity, discipline, and urgency in achieving the nation's True North, a vision of a high-income, digitally enabled, export-driven, people-centric, and economically diversified Botswana. The BETP focuses on the following nine priority sectors: Agriculture, Manufacturing, Infrastructure, Financial Services and Digitalization, Tourism, Energy, Water and Mining, Education, Healthcare, and Social Protection. The Labs will serve as the engine room of Botswana's economic transformation, where high-potential projects will be stress-tested, policy bottlenecks removed, and ready-to-implement solutions produced. Over the next four weeks, ministries, departments, agencies, and local government authorities will work alongside private sector leaders, investors, innovators, and development partners to turn high-potential projects into executable plans.