GENEVA―The Ethiopian Investment Commission (EIC) wins the ‘2017 United Nations Award’ for outstanding performance in targeted promotion, facilitation and execution of sustainable investment projects. The Award is presented to the world’s best-practice inward and outward investment promotion agencies and institutions to recognize their exceptional achievements in promoting and facilitating foreign direct investment that contributes towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
The Award was announced by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) at UN Office in Geneva during the 9th Investment, Enterprise and Development Commission on 20 November 2017. Ethiopian Investment Commission (EIC), Mauritius Board of Investment and COFIDES of Spain won the 2017 UN Awards.
A delegation from EIC led by Commissioner Fitsum Arega, received the United Nations Award for Promoting Investment in the SDGs 2017 in the presence of H.E Ambassador Negash Kibret, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, and Permanent Representative of Ethiopia to the United Nations and other International Organizations in Switzerland at a special ceremony held in Geneva.
Congratulations to the winners of the 2017 United Nations awards for promoting investment in the Sustainable Development Goals: the Board of Investment Mauritius, COFIDES, and the Ethiopian Investment Commission! @Boardofinvest @COFIDES @EthiopiaInvest pic.twitter.com/dOIR9tuq8k
— UNCTADinvestment (@unctadwif) November 20, 2017
In giving the United Nations Award, the Director for Investment Division of UNCTAD remarked that Ethiopia won based on the criteria of effectiveness of its investment promotion strategy in promoting and facilitating Foreign Direct Investment projects, evidence of positive results from the promotion and facilitation services, and contribution of its Foreign Direct Investment projects to the realization of the SDGs.
In particular, the sustainable features of Ethiopia’s industrialization approach, the targeted investor recruitment strategy that resulted in the attraction of leading global firms in Hawassa Industrial Park and the facilitation provided to the firms was highly commended as exemplary for other countries. Ethiopia’s deliberate policy choice to promote labor-intensive industries such as textile and apparel that provide job opportunities for youth and create equal opportunities for women; its compliance with high social and environmental standards on the development and operation of industrial parks; and its dedicated effort in establishing the OSS and other investor-friendly reforms all contributed to the decision to grant this award to Ethiopia.
Also noteworthy is that the Government of Ethiopia recently received a ‘2017 Star Reformer Award’ from the World Bank Group for its outstanding performance on investment policy reform and promotion. Such recognition from the two leading global development organizations is a clear testament that Ethiopia is indeed on the right course in realizing its vision of becoming a leading manufacturing hub in Africa by 2025.
Source: Ethiopian Mission in the UN
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