Over 2.5 million Ethiopians live outside of their country, particularly in North America, Europe and the Middle East, the Netherlands being one of the destination countries among others. There are 16347 Ethiopians in the Netherlands according to the Dutch Central Statistics Agency (2016 figures).
The Government of Ethiopia (GoE) launched its official diaspora policy in 2013. One of the core components is to promote diaspora engagement in investment: “Any member of Ethiopian Diaspora residing abroad will be promoted to participate directly or through collaborations with domestic investors on pertinent areas of investment appropriately identified.”
The GoE is implementing various interventions towards ensuring effective implementation of the policy and boosting the participation of Ethiopians in the development activities of Ethiopia.
Ethiopia recently (fall 2018) launched a Diaspora Agency to engage Ethiopians and foreigners of Ethiopian origin in meaningful participation in the development of their country.
These are the characteristics of the Agency:
- under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
- own budgetary and human resources
- headquarters in Addis Ababa
- branch offices across Ethiopia
- representatives in Ethiopian embassies