BY DANIEL ALEMAYEHU
It is incontestable truth that building strong economy of a nation is one of the major steps to be taken for the overall development and security. Having better economy will create opportunities for both the government and the people of a country to lead better life. This is obvious that the world witnesses how those countries with better economic standards are managing their lives and how life is easy.
In countries with meager economic power, on the contrary, the possibility to create favorable environment will cost a hand and a leg so that the government and the people would cry out to tackle and escape from those challenges. In many scenarios, nations have been observed opening their doors to different opportunities. Attracting investors could be an example. As a result, when investment is increasing, it is true that other doors will also be opened.
Some of the main reasons why nations build favorable atmosphere to investment are to create job opportunities for their amassed citizenry, attract foreign direct investment, and generate better foreign currency income to the country. In the case of Ethiopia, the current incumbent has been working on creating the expected environments that meet the international standards and areas that have the capacity to lure investors from inside and abroad.
In the past few years, following the implementation of political reform in the country, the Government of Ethiopia has taken decisive and deep- rooted measures to build and develop various investment sites including industrial parks in order to achieve the desired objectives. On top of creating the ideal places that suit investors, it is one of the strategies to promote investment via organizing multiple events and forums under the vision to gather interested local and foreign investors and sell what a nation can offer and the incentives it provides.
Understanding the outcome of promoting investment, the Ethiopian government established the Ethiopian Investment Commission and has been working on increasing the investment inflow of the country. That was the reason behind hosting investment forums in different times. The nation has also taken steps so as to promote itself to the international community and companies with good appetite began to invest in the country.
The Ethiopian Investment Commission plans to host Invest Ethiopia 2023 forum under the theme of ‘Invest and grow in Ethiopia – The Land of Attractive Investment Opportunities’. The forum will be held from April 26 to 28 at the Skylight Hotel, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The forum will be sponsored by the Ethiopian most profitable and prominent companies namely the Commercial Bank of Ethiopia and Ethio-Telecom. In addition, the Ethiopian Airlines will also serve as the official travel partner for the forum.
According to the commission’s press release, the investment forum has the potential to bring investors, business leaders, policy makers, and entrepreneurs across the world to explore and unlock the untapped investment opportunities that the nation is blessed with.
Delivering the press release and briefing journalists, Investment Deputy Commissioner, Temesgen Tilahun said that the Ethiopian Investment Commission has been working closely with stakeholders including Ministry of Foreign Affairs and diplomatic missions around the world to host the “Invest Ethiopia 2023 Forum”. The prior aim of the event is to promote the nation’s untapped investment potentials and to increase the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) flow into the country.
The deputy commissioner stated that Ethiopia is one of the top African countries that attract more foreign direct investment. Apart from action taken by the responsible stakeholders on promoting nation’s investment opportunities, there are investors who are initiated by themselves and started investing in the country. It has been a while since the commission took the responsibility to promote investment. In the past three years, the global pandemic, COVID-19, and the internal unrest have made life hard to achieve the objectives that the commission set to accomplish.
In the present climate, the aforementioned challenges have become stabled, and the peace and security issues of the country is getting normal and stable even though the Russia- Ukraine war is still in progress. With all the odds, the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) flow around the world has shown better progress. In this regard, countries including Ethiopia are working to increase their activities on investment this time, Temesgen noted.
As to the deputy commissioner, together with the home grown economic reform, there are positive changes that make the country one of the best investment destinations. The commission did not disclose these changes to stakeholders because of the previously mentioned challenges. But this time, these changes will be introduced.
To mention some of the changes, for instance, as to Temesgen, a new investment policy will be introduced. This policy change will open attractive opportunities to the private sector. The commission has not presented the advantage that the new policy provides to investors and this is the time to unveil it. In addition, there is a change in commercial code with the national home grown economy and recently introduced the free trade zone policy. Again, the previously introduced change in ease of doing business is among the notable changes that will be introduced on the forum.
He further pointed out that the commission has reformed over 80 bureaucratic producers, which were serious factors in facilitating investment in the country for the past many years. Moreover, the digitalization and online service deliveries will be used as inputs though they are not enough.
Newly opened telecom and finance sectors will also get the chance to be disclosed to investors in the forum. During the forum, over 50 government officials from all corners will attend and it is a useful platform to carry out fruitful discussions with a view to identifying the challenges and devising relevant solutions to potential problems. There are selected economic growth pillars namely; agriculture, agro- processing, manufacturing, mining, tourism, and Information and Communication Technology (ICT) sectors will be presented on the forum.
“On the forum, more than 50 high government officials will be attending, to deliver speeches, and participating in different panel discussions to provide live response to investors’ queries. Representatives from International Investment Promotion Association will deliver keynote speeches and presentations; well-known business CEOs will also share their experiences in the forum. All and all, we are expecting that over 600 investors will participate,” Temesgen added.
So far, 500 investors are registered through online platform, he said adding that 25 exhibitions will be held across the country and some six side events will take place, and 10 key note speeches will be presented. Three will be high level panel discussions, as well as business to business, and business to government meetings will be conducted during the forum.
As a result, the commission expects that the forum will be a foundation platform to generate over three billion USD in the coming two years. In addition, around initial soft deals and confirmations worth 500 million USD FDI are expected. Besides, 10 Memorandum of Understandings (MoU) with major international organizations will also be signed. In line with this, previous deals in pipeline will be finalized and more than 20 media institutions are expected to be there for media coverage.
He further stated that Ethiopia has enormous investment potentials. The nation is a home to young populations; and with dynamic and rapidly growing population it possesses strategic geopolitical location in Africa and the Middle East, so that investors are expected to invest in this great nation to bring significant change in both sides.
THE ETHIOPIAN HERALD WEDNESDAY 19 APRIL 2023
