Tanzania's Zanzibar to engage more diaspora in its development drive

Tanzania's Zanzibar government is intensifying efforts to engage diasporas in an attempt to attract more foreign direct investment.

Speaking at the official opening of the third Tanzania Diaspora Conference Wednesday, Zanzibar President Ali Mohamed Shein vowed to fasten the approval of the Diaspora policy that will enable Diasporas to be recognized as key contributors to the Isles' socio-economic development.

Shein said the government will soon endorse the policy that will guide Diaspora and engage them in various national issues in areas of development and investment.

This is the first time that Zanzibar is hosting the Diaspora conference with a theme; "Bridging Tanzania Tourism and Investment: A New Outlook."

He said the policy will have all the required information that will lead the Diaspora to know their rights and various investment opportunities in the country.

Shein stressed that Diaspora have vast chances to seek for investment opportunities that will help foster their development.

"The policy will soon be endorsed and you will have time to read and challenge it if there are issues that are not of interest to you," he said.

However, Shein stressed that Diaspora contributions are directly related to institutional frameworks, socio-economic settings, political environments as well as issues of perceptions, images, trust and social identification, in both the home and host country.

He also said that while there is a growing policy interest in tapping, mobilizing and channeling Diaspora contributions, the role of policies should be clearly defined, and the approaches that can effectively facilitate the engagement of Diasporas for development understood to ensure that Diasporas are not deprived of the ownership of their contributions.

According to the International Fund for Agriculture Development, the African remittance flows to and within the continent reach 40 billion U.S. dollars per year. Endit