Wednesday November 30, 2022
Mogadishu (HOL) - Prime Minister Hamza Abdi Barre closed a two-day international investment conference in Mogadishu on Tuesday afternoon, with Somalia expressing its readiness for global investment.
The prime minister said Somalia is committed to reforming economic and security laws to make doing business in Somalia easier and attract capital, adding that a foreign investment law has already been passed, which guarantees fair business competition.
The investment conference in Somalia, which was the first of its kind, was organized by the Ministry of Planning, Investment, and Economic Development. Organizers believe that if some of the investment ideas were implemented, it would play an essential role in achieving Somalia's lofty development goals.
At the summit's official inauguration, President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud noted that Somalia is blessed with natural resources and a gifted business community. The President said his administration was working to make Somalia a more attractive investment option.
The administration's aims, according to President Mohamud, are centred on the eradication of terrorism, the creation of laws and a system of government, the building of economic infrastructure, and the engaging of international markets and trade organizations.
Earlier this year, Somalia signed a natural resource production sharing agreement with US-based Coastline Exploration covering offshore, deep-water blocks of the coast of Somalia.
The agreement was the first significant investment deal inked by Somalia's government since the collapse of Somalia's central government in 1991.