Licenses Diaspora investment worth 72 bln Birr capital
Ethiopia secured over four billion USD in the form of remittances during the current fiscal year, the Ethiopian Diaspora Service (EDS) said.
The EDS held a consultation forum with stakeholders on ways to maximize the Diaspora's investment involvement yesterday.
Speaking at the consultation forum, EDS Deputy Director-General Belayneh Akinachew stated that the Diaspora community has been actively contributing to their home country's development in various ways.
This fiscal year, Ethiopian Diasporas purchased 750,000 USD worth Abbay Dam bond, contributed some 1.6 million USD for the Gebeta Lehager and Clean Ethiopia projects, and extended 18.6 million USD for voluntary support.
Moreover, Diaspora investment projects with an aggregate capital of over 72 billion Birr have obtained permits in the reported period.
According to Belayneh, although promising results have been gained in attracting Diaspora investments, the country has not well exploited the capacity of its citizens living in different parts of the world. Enhancing the service delivery, incentivizing the Diasporas' economic engagement and other measures would contribute to tapping the untapped potential.
"In this regard, attempts have been made to draw the lesson from the Somali and Hariri states' success in designing and applying the Diaspora-friendly investment and trade packages and expand the practice into other parts of the country."
Cognizant of the fact that enhancing the Diaspora's economic participation is a cross-border mission, the EDS held consultative discussions with Diaspora members via different mechanisms to garner their support for the overall development, he elaborated.
Accordingly, the EDS has been providing awareness creation programs for more than 5,000 young Diasporas to further boost their participation in Ethiopia's overall economic progress and scale up their involvement in national projects.
Currently, some five million Ethiopian Diasporas are estimated to live abroad.
