An official 6-member government delegation from the Republic of Botswana visited NIA on July 23, 2012. The delegation was led by H.E. Minister Nonofo E. Molefhi, who was accompanied by Vice Minister, Thato Yaone Raphaka, Menzi Rethata Maphisa, Head of Strategy Division at the Department of

Information Technology and Ronald R. Ridge, e-Government Controller from the Ministry of Transport and Communications. The delegation met with NIA President, Seang-Tae Kim and other NIA executive directors and staff.



During the meeting, a brief NIA introduction was presented which was then followed by a Korean e-Government presentation that shared Korea' s success stories and lessons learned and challenges regarding e-Government initiatives and in providing citizen centric services. Minister Maphisa emphasized that Botswana is primarily rural and has had a a focus on mining and agriculture

in the past but the Botswana government realizes that mining and natural resources are not sustainable. Therefore, at this time the Botswana government is trying to find other ways to seek growth and that the government there would like to follow in the footsteps of Korea with viable investments and growth in ICT. By building national revenue growth with ICT, it can be used as a vehicle to drive economic growth in the future. He went on to add that he truly believed that ICT can be a key for Botswana in the future and any guidance that Korea could provide with regards to IT infrastructure, e-government, ICT master plan would be welcomed and appreciated.



NIA President wanted to know what the Botswana government' s priority in terms of ICT was and Minister Maphisa mentioned that the integration of e-services and programs are most important so as to be comprehensive and robust across government. The Minister went on to add the mobile government services would be another area that is gaining prominence in the country as about 10% of Botswana people have computers whereas there is 150% use of the mobile platform in Botswana. NIA President Kim mentioned that Korea could help and support Botswana in this regards based on its own tailored and customized experience.



The meeting concluded with talks about specific NIA support to Botswana in terms of infrastructure and e-government framework development and digital divide programs such as Information Access Centers. There were also talks about continuing discussions on e-government consulting and IT master plan for 2013 and beyond.