Botswana is pursuing a budget strategy geared towards advancing the country towards high income status, President Dr Mokgweetsi Masisi has said. Welcoming the World Bank Regional Vice President for Eastern and Southern Africa, Ms Victoria Kwakwa during her courtesy call at the Office of the President yesterday, Dr Masisi said the country�s National Vision 2036 aspiration of high income status would inform the country�s budgetary planning. �We have repositioned ourselves following the COVID-19 pandemic to put in place the Reset Agenda. We are also pursuing a budget and financing strategy to drive us to high income status. A tall order as it requires economic growth, but we are really committed, focused in our budget strategy to do all we can to drive growth,� Dr Masisi said. The President said support in critical areas such as transport and logistics and the digital economy was critical for the country to drive its export development and economic growth. Dr Masisi added that the World Bank Group had had a stellar record in development financing and Botswana welcomed continuing a mutually beneficial relationship. For her part, Ms Kwakwa said the World Bank was proud of its partnership with Botswana and more could be achieved at a point where the country was trying to move to a better stage of its development. She said the World Bank was also going through a phase in pursuit to reposition itself to be a more responsive, creative institution, forward looking and thinking outside the box to service its clients better. Ms Kwakwa said they sought to bring better solutions to upper middle income countries such as Botswana. Currently on a tour of Botswana, Ms Kwakwa will today be part of a consultative dialogue on a World Bank on-going study titled; Botswana: In Search of New Drivers of Inclusive Growth, in Gaborone. The study, a flagship World Bank diagnostic study, aims to address the challenge of inclusive growth faced by Botswana, carrying out a comprehensive analysis of the macro and micro-foundations of the growth performance in Botswana and a perspective of growth opportunities, a World Bank statement reveals. In her visit to the Office of the President, Ms Kwakwa was accompanied by the Minister of Finance, Ms Peggy Serame and fellow World Bank officials, including Ms Marie Marie-Nelly the Country Director for South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, Lesotho and eSwatini as well as Mr Liang Wang, Resident Representative for Botswana.