The Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) states plan to tap diaspora funding to push their industrialization agenda, an official said on Wednesday.
Kipyego Cheluget, COMESA assistant secretary general, told journalists in Nairobi that diaspora resources have been identified as one of the enablers for the COMESA Industrialization Policy 2015-2030.
“To promote diaspora involvement in the COMESA industrialization drive, there is need to harness the knowledge, finance and entrepreneurial capacity of the diaspora to enhance investment in industrial sector or related supporting sectors,” Cheluget said.
Cheluget made the remarks during the fifth Kenyan Diaspora Alliance annual homecoming event.
He noted that at the continental level, the African Union Commission has established a department to cater for people of African descent wherever they are for their engagement in the development of the continent.
“At the regional level, COMESA has also realized the contribution that its citizens in the diaspora can make to the devolution of knowledge and experience for development of the region,” he said.
