? some countries, such as jamaica and india, have created separate ministries for diaspora affairs. other countries, such as china, have taken a much more local approach, establishing diaspora assistance agencies at provincial and municipal levels. ghana has bifurcated its national investment - promotion agency, separating the staff who deal with non - resident ghanaians from those who focus on non - ghanaian investors. specific policies and programmes aimed at strengthening diaspora investment and entrepreneurship are in their infancy in many countries. judging the effectiveness of many of these efforts is therefore difficult. as governments develop diaspora - specific activities, they should also be devising a means to measure the effectiveness of their efforts. in my view, if uganda was to take the route of directly stimulating diaspora investment ( including issuing of diaspora bonds ), it must give serious thought and consideration to diaspora status issues. for example, will diaspora investors or entrepreneurs be entitled to special economic incentives and benefits that are not available to non - diaspora? whereas this may help incentivize some diaspora to make economic commitments in uganda, these types of investment policies are often hard to undo once rendered. what will the legal status of diaspora be relative to their resident counterparts? how will their interests be represented formally and informally within the uganda political system? i strongly believe that creating too great a privileged status for diaspora relative to local citizens ultimately may flop in terms of promoting diaspora investment and entrepreneurship, because such favouritism may breed mistrust, resentment and even contempt among local citizens for diaspora investors and entrepreneurs. in conclusion, ugandan diaspora is a crucial actor for economic development. development is about expanding the choices of the poor and vulnerable and the ugandan diaspora has contributed to this. the potential for even greater contributions is, nevertheless, immense. better tuned government policies and cooperation can make the difference. the main task is to make the ugandan diaspora true partners for development in both countries of origin and of residence. thank you for your kind attention. bis central bankers ’ speeches

china's technology industry is dominated by “ sea turtles ” ( chinese who have lived abroad and returned ). uganda can learn from this. bis central bankers ’ speeches in particular, unlike other foreign investors, ugandan diaspora investors may have other considerations that do not fit nicely with generally accepted fdi rationale. first, they may be more likely to invest in uganda even when other investors could consider uganda high - risk, simply because they have better knowledge and relationship opportunities that other investors lack. secondly, they can combine this knowledge with the skills, knowledge, and networks they have cultivated abroad, yielding important synergistic advantages. third, they can invest for altruistic reasons – for “ love of home country ”, with the expectation that their investment will have a positive impact on families left behind in home. 2. what can the ministry of foreign affairs do? uganda ’ s growth prospects and returns on investment which are among the highest make investing in uganda very attractive. the increasing urbanisation, the rapid growing consumer - oriented market, strong demographics, rising investment in infrastructure, and improving corporate governance and regulation, all bode well for the continued growth of uganda ’ s investment story. however, uganda is facing various challenges and is currently incapable of fully exploiting its economic potential. the challenges include : human capital, representing the store of knowledge, skills and values acquired through education, work and social learning that raise productivity and well - being ; infrastructure deficit e. g. inadequate electricity, poor road network, railway system, etc. lack of these, means high costs for doing business and this scares away business even from the ugandan diaspora. without business, there is no employment, no production of goods and services, no expanding of the tax base, etc. it is a vicious cycle. another bottle neck is weak institutions ; which is combination of low human capital, infrastructure and political rent seeking and political patronage. ugandan diaspora can play a vital role in allaying some of these challenges. ugandan diaspora could become an important class of investors because they have a better understanding of the risk assessment capability of their country, which makes them less risk averse to the opportunities that appear very risky to the average investor. their personal attachment and commitment to their country of origin turns them into investors with a longerterm outlook, which often is critical, particularly in infrastructure. everyone is aware of celtel ’ s and mohammed ibrahim ’ s success by investing early in african mobile technology when most others did not