President Duma Boko's administration will consider the digital economy a growth avenue for Botswana. He revealed in an interview with Reuters at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland.
According to President Boko, the ongoing WEF is an opportunity to stoke investor interest in building the digital infrastructure to support the digital economy aspirations.
"The digital economy will allow us to improve service delivery, grow our economy, and also boost the productivity of young people," said President Boko.
He added that the government was also looking to the green economy for growth, including ecotourism and renewable energy. One of these initiatives involves placing mini-grids to allow communities to harness and possibly sell power to the government. The government will also use harnessed solar power to support data centres.
In farming, Boko hopes technologies like precision farming using AI will boost economic activity and make it relevant to the new generation. Boko also said AI is in use to help the police to more effectively solve criminal cases.
In the diamond industry, he also revealed that they have had talks with a European company whose technology tracks diamonds back to their origin. This, Boko said, will enable customers to identify Botswana diamonds from others.