Government to implement Diasporan policy to improve investment drive

Accra, July 11, GNA - Government will roll-out a Diasporan engagement policy to give clear guidelines and direction towards engaging Ghanaians in the Diaspora to harness their resources and skills for economic development.

The policy document, which is currently at the draft stage, would spell out the various strategies in engaging Ghanaians living in the Diaspora. It is expected to be ready by the end of the year.

Mr Akwasi Awua Ababio, the Director of the Diaspora Relations Office at the Presidency, made this known at the closing ceremony of the 2017 Ghana Diaspora Homecoming Summit in Accra.

He said his outfit would engage in broader consultation with the various stakeholders in the Diaspora to solicit their concerns and inputs to ensure a comprehensive and holistic policy framework.

'We must have ingenious ways to entice Ghanaian Diasporans and my office is going to launch a programme to capture one million Ghanaians in the Diaspora through the churches, schools, groups and associations in order to get the data,' he said.

The three-day event, on the theme: 'Development, Opportunity, Value: Welcome Home,' attracted Ghanaians abroad to access the business opportunities in the country.

He said the Diasporan policy was critical to the nation, especially at this period of the country's development, adding; 'We would activate the website of the Diaspora Relations Office for easy access of information and regular interaction with the Diasporan Community.

He said it would also champion a dual citizenship for Ghanaians in the Diaspora so that they would not encounter difficulties in accessing public services in Ghana and Ghanaian missions abroad.

Mr Ababio said government had plans of rolling-out Diasporan Bond to mobilise financial resources for socio-economic development and urged the Ghanaian Community in the Diaspora to embrace it.

He said: 'We will learn from other countries that have undertaken such initiatives like Ethiopia, Japan, India and others because when the will is there, there is no need to re-invent the wheel'.

Mr Ababio disclosed that as part of efforts to enroll Ghanaians in the Diaspora to perform their national service here in Ghana, 30 places had been reserved for them.

GNA

By Godwill Arthur-Mensah, GNA