UNCTAD has consistently argued that the pathway to accelerated and sustained growth and development is through productive capacity building and movement up the value, technology and productivity ladder through structural transformation.
The Diaspora can play a critical role in all these areas through remittances and knowledge transfer through Diaspora knowledge-network.
In the past decade, Ethiopia has made substantial progress in mobilizing its Diaspora and creating an environment conducive to engagement of the Diaspora in Ethiopia's development.
The High-Level Policy Dialogue is jointly organized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia and UNCTAD.
Participants will include high-level Government officials, representatives of the diaspora community in Ethiopia, officials responsible for Diaspora affairs in regional governments, representatives of international organizations and other stakeholders.
The two-days meeting will cover substantive policy and technical (operational) issues, building on the findings and conclusions of the UNCTAD study and drawing on experiences and best practices from successful developing countries.
The first day of the policy dialogue will focus on:
The role of the diaspora in promoting trade and development as well as fostering productive capacities and structural economic transformation (Theme I)
The challenges, opportunities and prospects for harnessing the potential of the Ethiopian diaspora for socio-economic development of the country (Theme II)
The second day will be devoted to exploring and critically examining the experiences of other developing countries (Theme III).
The final session of the second day of the dialogue will explore in-depth the way forward with a focus on identification of concrete policy measures and priority actions for the successful implementation of the Ethiopian diaspora policy (Theme IV).
