Botswana

This report was prepared as part of the Botswana Science Technology and Innovation (STI) Policy review process and should be read in conjunction with the Botswana STI Policy Review. It documents the STI Foresight exercise designed and undertaken by UNCTAD in 2022 to explore the future role of science, technology and innovation and STI policy in Botswana and to stimulate a process aimed at creating a consensus on the future priorities for national investments in R&D, technology and innovation. It responds to a key finding of UNCTAD's Botswana STI Policy Review that the lack of clearly defined national priorities contributes to fragmentation in the national system of innovation in Botswana and undermines its innovation performance and capacity for technology upgrading. These in turn constrain the ability of Botswana to use STI for sustainable development and reach the sustainable development goals. The STI foresight exercise aimed to provide a future dimension to strategic planning for STI in the country. It sought to involve the STI community of policymakers and practitioners in Botswana in a discussion about what the STI future could be for Botswana and what a preferred STI future is for the country. The exercise and the report are based on an understanding that foresight can help to shape the future of Botswana by looking forward into the future to see what could be possible through selective policy interventions undertaken in the present starting from today.

With the rapid uptake of information and communications technologies (ICTs), growing digitalization in both developed and developing countries, and the catalytic role of new technological innovations in business and consumer markets, global value chains, and international trade, e-commerce has been increasingly transforming the global economy, affecting economic growth, competitiveness and socio-economic development. The accelerated expansion of e-commerce has been further fueled by the Covid-19 crisis. In addition to seeking to leverage ICTs and digital technologies to support Covid-19 recovery, the Government of Botswana has long recognized ICTs as enablers of national economic and social development and as a tool for strengthening the country’s competitiveness. Committed to creating an environment conducive to supporting e-commerce, Botswana has in the past decades invested in and strengthened its ICT sector, established key legal and regulatory measures, and now stands positioned to expand its e-commerce sector. At the request of Botswana’s Ministry of Investment, Trade, and Industry (MITI), UNCTAD launched an UNCTAD ICT Policy Review (ICTPR) Strategy to assist Botswana in developing its national e-commerce strategy in March 2019. The national e-commerce strategy set out in this publication aims to leverage Botswana’s full potential for e-commerce, to boost economic growth and socio-economic gains, diversify the economy, raise Botswana’s competitiveness in the global economy, and support its recovery from the pandemic crisis. The strategy is the result of technical assistance work delivered by UNCTAD supported by the SADC Trade Related Facility (TRF Fund) funded by the European Union.

Échange de lettres constituant un accord entre l’Organisation des Nations Unies et le Gouvernement de la République du Botswana concernant l’organisation du deuxième cours de formation des formateurs sur la formation standardisée préalable au déploiement de l’Organisation des Nations Unies à l’intention des unités de police constituées, devant se tenir à Gaborone, Botswana, du 16 avril au 25 mai 2012. New York, 18 avril 2012 et 14 mai 2012

ACCORD ENTRE LE GOUVERNEMENT DES ÉTATS-UNIS D’AMÉRIQUE ET LE GOUVERNEMENT DE LA RÉPUBLIQUE DU BOTSWANA CONCERNANT L’EMPLOI DES PERSONNES À CHARGE DES EMPLOYÉS OFFICIELS GOUVERNEMENTAUX. GABORONE, 15 JUIN 1984 [Nations Unies, Recueil des Traités, vol. 2120, I-36876.]