Under a government-approved ruling announced this Wednesday, Cape Verde will map and count the expat community by 2026 to boost investment and skills in the archipelago.
A draft proposal for a resolution approving the start of the process of mapping the Cape Verdean diaspora in order to produce official statistics was approved on Tuesday at a meeting of the Council of Ministers and presented by the government.
“Cape Verde is a country of strong emigration, and knowing this, the government has committed itself in its program to pay special attention to the diaspora. Attracting the skills and qualifications of our diaspora,” the minister said at a press conference in Praia. Janine Lelis, Chairman of the Council of Ministers of Cape Verde.
This mapping will be carried out by the National Institute of Statistics of Cape Verde with the support of the statistical authorities of the countries where the Cape Verdean community lives.
“This mapping will be carried out, which will actually be official statistics regarding our diaspora. The data we need to be able to get to know this diaspora better, to know where it is, what are the profiles of the members who to compile it, so that based on this data the government can determine public policy measures to further strengthen the process of integrating our diaspora into the process development of Cape Verde,” the official added.
The population of Cape Verde is about 500 thousand inhabitants, but recently the government estimated that more than one and a half million inhabitants of Cape Verde live in Europe and the United States of America (USA), and the financial system of the archipelago depends on remittances from these emigrants.
“We must take into account the contribution that the diaspora makes to the gross domestic product itself, that is, to our national economic activity. We must also consider the value of remittances, which are of great value to our economy. And it is in this context of appreciation that this mapping was supposed to take place by the end of 2026,” said Jeanine Lelis.
The survey will take into account the totality of emigration from the archipelago and will start, respectively, with countries with the largest communities of Cape Verde, cases in the United States, France, Guinea-Bissau, Luxembourg, Portugal and Sao Tome and Principe.
“What we really want is to know better, to know these profiles, to know them in detail, so that policies can also move along with this profile, in fact, to further increase the value of the great contribution that our diaspora makes. contribution to the development process,” the minister concluded.
Author: Portuguese
Source: CM Jornal
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