Namibia was Botswana's second best main supplier of imports in August after South Africa, as Botswana sourced most of its goods and services within the Southern African Customs Union region.  

The latest figures released by Botswana's statistical agency indicate that South Africa was the main supplier of imports at 58.3%, followed by Namibia at 11.7%.

Conversely, recent statistics show that Namibia does not feature among the top receivers of Botswana's exports in August, valued at N$5.9 million. 

According to the report, Botswana's top export destinations at the country level were the United Arab Emirates, China and South Africa at 24.6%, 14.9% and 13.1% of total exports, respectively. 

This scenario has bothered the country in a development that is jolting its agency that promotes and facilitates investment and export in the Botswana Investment and Trade Centre into action.

Botswana Investment and Trade Centre Director of Services, Moemedi Mokgosi told NBC News in an interview that plans are underway to change the status quo.

"As discussed, I think we have come up with new initiatives where we now adopted to engage virtually with buyers and potential clients in Namibia through our 2025-2030 strategy. We are very deliberate in terms of what we want to engage. We have adopted initiatives such as the Meet-the-Buyer Missions, where we are able to introduce our potential products into this new Namibian market."

In 2024, Botswana imported goods worth about N$167 billion from Namibia, with non-industrial diamonds and petroleum products accounting for over 94% of total imports, underscoring Namibia's importance as a source of strategic mineral and energy products.