AMBASSADOR SPEECHES

Remarks Presented by Ambassador Katherine H. Canavan Embassy of the United States of America to the Botswana Institute of Accountants.

April 26, 2008

Good evening ladies and gentlemen.  It is my genuine pleasure to be here with you tonight, and I greatly appreciate that you have accorded me this distinct honor and opportunity to address such a distinguished group of business men and women from Botswana’s accounting profession.  My sincere thanks go out to the Botswana Institute of Accountants.     Today is an exciting time in Botswana as the word “change” seems to be on the tip of everyone’s tongue since President Ian Khama’s inauguration.  As it has done many times in the past, Botswana has set an example for Africa and other countries with its peaceful handover of the office of the presidency from former President Festus Mogae to President Khama.  I wish both of these men much success in their new roles. Political change is underway in both our countries.  President Khama wasted no time in making several important personnel changes to government.  And The United States is not the only country with exciting primaries, as the primary season is in full swing here, which has already led to many changes within each of the political parties.  In 2009, we can expect Botswana to be a benchmark for other African countries when it holds its general election, where we can expect more changes to Botswana’s political life.   This is also a time of change for me and my husband Mike, as we are in the final months of my three-your tour as the American Ambassador to Botswana, a role I have enjoyed immensely.  Our next port of call will be in Stuttgart, Germany so I will be changing not only jobs but continents, ending over 15 years of service on the African continent.  All of you here tonight – whether you were born here, grew up here, or settled here from another country – have experienced and seen great changes in Botswana.   As President Khama indicated in his inauguration speech, change can be a time of alarm and uncertainty. But your experience and a review of Botswana’s past should give you and the country the confidence that Botswana has the ability to make the right changes to meet the challenges of the future. Botswana has certainly achieved much over these past four decades, with the United States and the American people as partners in your progress, which I was able to observe close-by.  While I served as a Peace Corps volunteer in the 1970s in then Zaire, Peace Corps workers were in villages here helping to teach Batswana and build a backbone of literacy across this vast land.  Today, according to the UN, Botswana has achieved a literacy rate of over 80% for adults and over 90% for its youth, making it a leader amongst African countries. In your early independence, Botswana remained a peaceful island in a regional sea of storms, when apartheid plagued South Africa and Namibia and wars wracked Angola, Mozambique, and Zimbabwe.  Serving in the U.S. Embassy in Windhoek in the mid-1990s, I witnessed the end to this tragic scourge of institutionalized racism.  This event was surely celebrated here in Gaborone, a “Frontline State” redoubt and host to other Southern African Development Coordination Conference stalwarts, which then evolved into the current SADC whose Secretariat remains situated here.  Today, Botswana has changed from an island to being part of a greater whole that must compete with its friendly neighbors for development, investment, and talent but also cooperate with them to achieve the goals of the nation and the region.  As Ambassador to Lesotho in the late 1990s, I saw the destruction the HIV/AIDs pandemic caused on families, communities, and society.  I appreciate Botswana’s pivotal role and leadership in facing this problem head-on.  Today, we stand side-by-side in the struggle against this terrible scourge, with Botswana a focus country and major recipient of substantial U.S. financial assistance under the President’s Emergency Program for AIDS Relief, known as PEPFAR.  Indeed, Botswana and the United States have been through much together, with this just the beginning of more to come, notably in the economic domain. As you all know, Botswana has come a long way in development since its independence in 1966.  It would be understandable for many to be complacent and happy with the status quo.  However, Botswana will have to continue to change to meet the challenges of the future.  As President John F. Kennedy once said, “Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future.”  So that Botswana does not miss the future, let me offer as a friend, my candid assessment of areas that Botswana might wish to focus its current attention to attract greater shares of the foreign trade and investment that will fuel and sustain economic development here.  Since my arrival in Botswana, I have come to admire the refreshing candor and common sense that comes out of the Kgotla tradition.  This is grass-roots democracy in action at its finest, and it reminds me very much of the town meetings that have been a hallmark of the fabric of American democracy since my own country’s founding more than 200 years ago.  So I hope you all will not consider me an impolite outsider as I offer some observations of Botswana’s socio-economic scene.  Indeed, please accept me as a friend and colleague within the circle of the Kgotla.  Specifically, here are three slogans where business representatives and officials from Botswana can look hard to change.  These are: -- Embrace Entrepreneurial Excellence;-- Cultivate a Culture of Customer Service; and-- Fear Not the Foreigner. I need not preach to the choir here with the message of economic diversification: indeed, it was a focus in former President Mogae’s final State of the Nation address as well as President Khama’s inauguration speech.  Botswana has done so well, going for its Vision 2016.  Yet everyone here acknowledges the urgency of employment creation.  You as business and civic leaders understand your moral imperative and obligation to this country’s future well-being:  assisting an educated population of young people ready for occupation with appropriate job creation and placement.  I applaud the foresight the BIA had in establishing the Accountancy Training Institute, which has trained many of today’s accountants and enabled many young Batswana to find employment.   I encourage you to embrace the drive for an entrepreneurial spirit here, and a lasting commitment to customer service as Botswana advances on a path to greater growth and widespread prosperity.   Yet the challenge for Botswana is not simply finding a place for its new workers in a growing workforce, it is the challenge for a small market like Botswana to find its place and niche in the global economy.  Whether you like globalization or not -- and this remains a hot topic of debate in my own country -- Botswana must reach out to foreign traders and investors and offer a welcoming and level playing field to attract interest here. With competition fierce worldwide for limited investment capital, Botswana must make certain that business representatives from all over feel that the rules of the game are crystal-clear here, particularly when it comes to big-ticket government procurement or projects, such as housing schemes, infrastructure, and new transportation assets.  Clear rules-of-the-game also include reducing excessive non-trade barriers such as long registration periods, local roadblocks to accessing suitable land, and difficulties in obtaining work and residency permits.    As President Khama said, Botswana can achieve greater success when all its citizens participate fully in her affairs. So let me suggest a special challenge to the accounting community to move from the stereotype of behind-the-scene advisors to participating fully and taking the lead in improving Botswana’s entrepreneurial spirit, strengthening customer service in this country, and embracing globalization, which will spur Botswana’s “take-off.” I encourage you to take the lead because the accounting profession and your organization here tonight is uniquely qualified to play a pivotal role in guiding Botswana to make the necessary changes for it’s economic take-off.  You are not simply advisors, consultants, tax preparers, and bookkeepers but also entrepreneurs yourselves with the skill set and experience to change for the better the entrepreneurial spirit in Botswana.   The accounting industry is fundamentally about customer service.  A successful accounting firm does not distinguish itself from its competitors based on debits and credits but rather on the delivery of its services. All industries, be it retail, tourism, banking, or others, can benefit from your knowledge of providing quality customer service.  As accountants, you are part of one of the most global of all industries and fully realize the benefits of integrating into the worldwide community.  This mindset can be a valuable asset in changing the attitude of Botswana toward globalization and foreign investment. It is easy and pleasant to speak of Botswana’s economic successes and the fact that the country is so highly rated by observers such as Standard and Poor’s, the World Bank, the Heritage Foundation, and many others.  Real accomplishments bolster this well-earned praise.  In a broader sense, however, I believe it is also appropriate to ask ourselves what still needs to be done to make Botswana even more highly ranked.  In doing so, I encourage the accounting profession to step forward and play an even greater role in finding solutions to current problems that are preventing Botswana from fulfilling its economic potential. So I ask all of you to be the leaders in finding answers to the many questions regarding Botswana’s economic future.  What can be done to help private businesses in Botswana generate the ideas, structures, and practices needed to be successful?  Are there patterns to the problems you observe as you evaluate proposed projects, or practical ways to reduce some of the risk you perceive?   Does the education system here prepare young citizens for success in the business world? If not, what can the accounting industry do to change this? How best can foreign direct investment and the sensitive but important matter of work permits for expatriates be balanced with the complex issues of citizen empowerment?  Are there government-imposed barriers to trade that stifle individual commercial creativity, such as in beef, communications, or public works?  These tough questions all go to the heart of what is probably the greatest economic challenge facing Botswana:  the need to diversify.   Free market economies grow and diversify on the strength of the creativity and energy of individual business people -- visionary women and men who see new ways to meet the needs of others and then find the wherewithal to give their ideas a try, and at times for trailblazers not without risk.  All of you play a crucial role in that process, providing critical financial expertise, guidance, hand-holding, and advice.           You have the front row seats -- the best in the house -- to see and understand the real economic opportunities and obstacles in Botswana’s private sector.  Your insights into this are of profound value to this nation, and I urge you to help all of the rest of us -- the government, foreign missions, domestic and international investors, and individual entrepreneurs -- see the overall picture as clearly as you do, and to open every practical door to ensure Botswana’s economic success always. Winston Churchill said, “To improve is to change; to be perfect is to change often.”  So on behalf of your many friends and admirers in America, allow me to salute all you visionary leaders as you make the difficult but necessary changes on the road to perfection and an even more prosperous and successful future for the gracious people of this wonderful land.  To all of you who have taken the time to share this evening with me, I thank you.  Pula!