Rationale

There is a general consensus that:

• The investment potential and experience base of the diaspora is on the rise, with an increasing number active within the private and public sector in Europe.

• Financial flows from the diaspora on average contribute 5-20% of some African countries GDP

• It is estimated that the diaspora remits in excess of $18 billion and invests over US$ 500 million, annually

• A large proportion of the diaspora community are unaware of the business and employment opportunities that exists in the continent

• The knowledge and skill set acquired by the diaspora is required at the private and public level in Africa

Within its recent new strategy for Africa communication, the EU recognises the need for “more comprehensive efforts .. to turn migration into a positive force in the development process, for example by transforming brain drain into brain gain” and the need to “stimulate sufficiently rapid, broad-based and sustainable economic growth in order to contribute to an effective reduction in poverty”.

There is thus the need to mobilise the financial and intellectual resources of the diaspora to this end. Generally, it has been argued that the contribution of the diaspora to the social product of their countries of origin could be much higher than the traditional type of capital. Put differently the social rate of return to a unit of investment by the diaspora may be higher than that in the case of non-diaspora foreign direct investment.

Objectives

The Diaspora Investment Forum (DiaForum 2006) aims at bringing together Africans in the diaspora with other stakeholders in view of enabling investment and skills transfer to the continent.

• Address the factors and challenges to diaspora investment and skills transfer at policy, institutional and operational level

• Enable a diaspora nvestment and skills transfer pathway to the continent

• Serve as a catalyst for enabling investment and skills transfer to the continent by  building partnerships between the diaspora and other stakeholders (African and European business, the African diplomatic community, European and African political leaders, African investment promotion agencies, etc..)

• Provide a platform for networking

Activities

Designed to provide a holistic view of the challenges to and opportunities in harnessing the resources of the diaspora for the continent's development, a number of activities have been scheduled to take place during the event. These include:

Presentations

A number of themes will be adressed in the presentation section of the forum.  These include:

• Africa’s investment prospects: opportunities, challenges and the role of the diaspora

• Meeting the challenges of fostering investment in Africa – role of the public and private sector institutions (EU, NEPAD, World Bank, Belgian and Dutch governments)

• Enabling investment into Africa – public sector instruments (Belgian government, International Finance Corporation, Centre for the Development of Enterprise, Proinvest, European Investment Bank)

• Investment promotion into Africa – best practices (featuring investment promotion agencies of European and African countries)

• Financing investments in Africa through the private sector – microfinance, joint partnerships and equity investment

• Opportunities in a number of economic sectors

• Case studies: diaspora investment initiatives in Africa

                                                                         view draft programme >>>.

Business Stands

Participating companies and project promoters would be provided with stands where they could display their products and services. Investment promotion agencies and/or commercial representations of African countries will be alloted stand space where they will be able to present their countries as destination for foreign investment.

*: Africarecruit and Worldbank estimates