Meet the Ambassadors - Southern Africa

Join us for our annual “Meet the Ambassadors” series as we invite some High Commissioners and Ambassadors from the region to share their insights on some of the key areas of opportunities for UK businesses, provide general political and economic updates on the region as well as sharing details on the region’s response to the pandemic.

Southern Africa provides long term opportunities in areas such as infrastructure, renewable energy, health and agribusiness. The services sector, which accounts for over 50% of the GDP of most of the regional economies, has been negatively impacted by not only the pandemic but more by the travel bans as the region lost out on tourism.  

South Africa’s economy, the region’s largest, declined by an estimated 7.2% in 2020. However, the path to recovery will be driven by raising public infrastructure spending and rebuilding a sustainable economic trajectory.

According to the World Bank, Namibia has become an upper-middle income country based on political stability and sound economic management and is a strong potential target for UK investment.  

Botswana is regularly ranked first among African countries in terms of effective governance and transparency.

Before the COVID–19 pandemic, Zimbabwe’s economy was already in recession, contracting by 6.0% in 2019 and the pandemic has caused further problems.  

In Mozambique, the Covid pandemic caused the first drop in Real GDP in Mozambique in 28 years. Growth prospects are then more positive for the medium term, and perhaps in the coming month we will start to see more positive indications of economic recovery.  

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All British Expertise International (BEI) events are open to UK Government civil servants and our strategic partners to participate at no cost. When registering please select “member” and follow the prompts. If you require registration assistance, please contact Matthew Gibbons.

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