Somaliland holds 3rd Annual Diaspora Conference under the theme

Experiences of the Diaspora & the Situation at Home.

The Republic of Somaliland has Diaspora population roughly estimated over

600,000 spread across Europe, North America, Middle East, Australia and
Africa.. Contributions of the Somaliland Diaspora have long been noted as
quite significant to the Somaliland economy and to development
Somalilanders in the Diaspora have for decades been resourceful in the
reconstruction, peace restoration, state building, economic investment,
democratization process and/or the political transition by advocating for the
good governance and strengthening the countrys democracy. According to
reports, it is estimated that the Diaspora remittance exceeds $500 million
dollars a year and that the remittance represents a major part of the per
capita income for both urban and rural communities. There are thousands of
professionals, entrepreneurs, intellectuals and experts from the Diaspora
who invested variety of businesses, brought business innovations,
established modern hotels, hospitals, schools, universities etc, invested
factories and entered for the institutional building serving the government,
developing tools, working with local and international NGOs, lecturing in
universities and many running their businesses which has greatly contributed
to the economic growth, employment opportunities and government revenue
as well

Somaliland Diaspora Agency (SLDA) in cooperation with the Ministry of

Foreign Affairs & International Cooperation of the Republic of Somaliland is
planning to hold the 3rd Annual Diaspora Conference under the theme
Experiences of the Diaspora & the Situation at Home in August 2016.
Previous conferences were successful in bringing Somaliland Diaspora and
representatives of the Somaliland government together to discuss critical
issues on Somaliland's political transition, economic opportunities and the
important role of the Diaspora in the nations development. The previous two
conferences laid a foundation for future conferences and long term
engagement between the Somaliland government and the Diaspora
community in the USA, EU and Middle East. As with previous years, future
conferences will help consolidate the gains and achievements from
engagements of this type.

The proposed Diaspora Conference will combine a variety of engagement

platforms: plenary, panel discussions, break-out sessions and a themed
exhibition. These are some of the ways the Conference will provide increased
opportunities for interactions among participants. It is intended to be

1
responsible for the various expectations of the participants and interests in
being a part of this endeavor.

The 3rd Annual Conference of Somaliland Diaspora aims to bring together

academic professionals and intellectuals from Somaliland Diaspora
communities worldwide as well as investors and entrepreneurs of Diaspora
individuals and groups and locals with successful business backgrounds,
catalysts, business support organizations, national and international
development partners, influential and prominent persons, cultural icons,
educationalists, researchers and key government ministries; in order to
provide a premier platform the participants to discuss a variety of important
topics regarding the ways to successfully engage the Diaspora in the
homeland development, identify the vital challenges impeding the Diaspora
participation in the investment and the national development agenda and at
the same time come up with recommendations for responsive measures in
the sector and the migration development in general. Marking of a National
Diaspora Day is also put as an agenda for this conference. The conference
recommendation on marking the day will be submitted to the President who
will issue a decree on declaring the National Diaspora Day first time in the
history of Somaliland.

The thematic areas for discussion include Diaspora unity, Investment, utilizing the
Diaspora expertise and knowledge transfer, services to the Diaspora, Diaspora
participation in the NDP and Somaliland Vision 2030 and the required mechanisms
for the sector evaluation, challenges to the Diaspora engagement, role of the
Diaspora in the national recognition seeking strategy and other relevant topics.
Furthermore, Somaliland Diaspora Agency in consultation with Somaliland MOFA
proposed marking of a National Diaspora Day and the idea has been agreed to put
as an agenda in this conference for more discussions of the merits of conducting
an annual week-long celebrations as the National Day of Somaliland Diaspora Day
in which information sharing and acknowledge of knowledge and experiences,
Diaspora awareness in the local potentials and fundraising efforts will be undertaken
under the theme selected each year.

For further details of this conference as well as called research papers for both this
years event and for the next years conference of Somaliland Diaspora Agency,
visit the website http://sldiasporaagency.org/

Somaliland Diaspora Agency

Ministry of Foreign Affairs & International Cooperation of Somaliland
Hargeisa, Republic of Somaliland,
sldiasporaagency@gmail.com
13th July, 2016