Council Gives Green Light to Digital Strategy

Jun 20 , 2020

The Council of Ministers has given a green light to the Ethiopian Digital Strategy that was crafted to direct the economy of the country toward tech-led growth. Drafted by the Ministry of Innovation & Technology under the stewardship of Abraham Belay (PhD), the strategy has been in the making for the last year and outlines four pathways to the realisation of digital-led growth. It anchors unleashing the value of agriculture, constructing the next version of the global value chain in manufacturing, building IT-enabled services, and focusing on digital as the driver of tourism competitiveness. The outlined pathways are broken down into three timelines of implementation: short-term, one to three years; mid-term, eighteen months to three years; and long-term, three to five years. The document was reviewed by 11 development partners and civil society organisations, including the World Bank; 18 ministries and representative agencies; and 30 private sector representatives, start-ups and incubator leaders. The 157-page document is aligned with the Homegrown Economic Reform Agenda and the Ten-Year Development Plan, as well as with international commitments such as the Sustainable Development Goals and the African Union’s Continental Digital Strategy.