The Botswana government welcomes investors of any kind, of any source, including those from China, President Festus Mogae told Xinhua Thursday in an exclusive interview in his office.

"Botswana welcomes investors from all countries, especially those from China," the president said, adding that the southern African country boasts many facilities for foreign investors.

Mogae, 65, who is running for another five-year term in office and is highly expected to win in the general elections to be held on Saturday, valued political stability and transparency as the most important facilities to investors, which Botswana has continuously enjoyed since its independence from Britain in 1966.

Unlike some of the other African countries, no coup or political turbulence has ever took place in this diamond-rich nation and it was widely regarded as the least corrupt country on the African continent.

He is also proud of the sound, liberal economic policies the government has taken, which have helped Botswana turn from one of the 25 poorest countries in the world into a medium-income one over the last three decades.

The GDP per capita in Botswana has surged to about 3,600 US dollars from about 25 dollars in 1966. The World Economic Forum rated Botswana as the most economically competitive nation in Africa in 2003.

Mogae said his country has one of the freest economies in the world, in terms of market economic management.

"We have some of the lowest taxes. we have abolished exchange controls a long time ago," he said. "We are an open economy and open society."

He believes that Chinese investors can benefit greatly from all this.

Botswana's economy is based on mining, especially diamond mining, but natural resources are not "limitless," so the Botswana government is doing its utmost to diversity the economy.

The country has identified a series of areas for promotion of a diversified economy, such as industrial development as well as tourism, the president said, believing that Chinese investors can find business opportunities in all the new sectors.

However, the president indicated some disadvantages for his country to attract Chinese investors.

The domestic market is very small in Botswana, Mogae said, and it is a landlocked country, very far from sea, with the nearest ocean over 1,000 km away, which will increase cost of investment.

"That is why we are always at the forefront of integration initiatives. That's why we're trying to promote integration, so that you can have a bigger market in southern Africa," he said, explaining that Chinese investors should target Botswana and its neighbors as a whole market.

The president recommended Chinese investors invest in Botswana's trade and tourism sectors.

He welcomed Chinese tourists to visits his country, which is rich in wildlife resources

"We want Chinese tourists. Next time I go to China, I'll be selling Botswana as a destination of tourism for Chinese people," he said.

China has granted several African countries, such as South Africa, Mauritius and Kenya, the status of approved destination for outbound Chinese tourists.

Mogae spoke highly of the contribution of Chinese to the development of Botswana, citing roads, hospitals, and schools Chinese have built in the southern African country.

He hopes more and more Chinese to travel in his country.

In his career as a technocrat, he has visited China for five times, when he toured Beijing, Shanghai, Nanjing and several other major Chinese cities and was impressed by China's rapid development since the implementation of its reform and opening-up drive.

"The rest of the world has been a huge market for China," said Mogae. "You see the shirt I wear. it is made in China," he said.

With a population of 1.76 million and an area of 582,000 sq. km, about the size of Kenya, Botswana is one of the world's biggest diamond producers and fastest growing economies, reporting a 7.4 percent growth in 2003.

A trained economist in Oxford University, Mogae has engaged himself in Botswana's economic development in most of his life. He started his career as a planning officer in 1968 and climbed up the ladder to the top post in the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning of permanent secretary from 1975 to 1976. He was appointed minister of finance and development planning in 1989.

He first claimed the spotlight as deputy to former Botswana president Quett Masire, then as his successor when Masire stepped down in 1998.

Source: Xinhua