Under the high patronage of His Excellency the Prime Minister, His Excellency Abdoulkader Kamil Mohamed, the Ministry in charge of the Digital Economy and Innovation launched the Digital Economy and Innovation Roadmap to implement key reforms to boost productivity, efficiency and modernize administration to sustain growth, making it broader and more inclusive.

This high-level event brought together members of government, ambassadors, development partners, financial institutions, the private sector and civil society and generated constructive exchanges between stakeholders from across society, notably through active participation in the panel discussion, The event was chaired by the Minister of Digital Economy and Innovation, Her Excellency Mrs Mariam Hamadou Ali, the Minister of Budget, His Excellency Mr Isman Ibrahim Robeh, the Governor of the Central Bank of Djibouti, His Excellency Mr Ahmed Osman Ali, the CEO & Founder Cybersan, Mr Bilal Moussa and the CEO of kikdrop Mr Jean-Pierre Chebat.

Although the business environment in Djibouti has improved considerably in recent years, the digital entrepreneurship ecosystem is still in its infancy and has a long way to go in attracting funding and stimulating the creation of cutting-edge and innovative start-ups. The main barriers to digital entrepreneurship are lack of technical and managerial skills, limited funding, poor telecommunications infrastructure, low broadband penetration, lack of mentors and entrepreneurial support structures, and legal and regulatory pitfalls.

In this context, the Ministry in charge of the Digital Economy and Innovation, with the support of UNDP, has developed a roadmap for the digital economy and innovation in line with the national vision and strategy

Through its human-centred and participatory approach, the roadmap is based on four main pillars: digital, economic and digital administration, sectors and professions of the future, citizen participation and digital culture and aims to make Djibouti an exceptional place to live, work, do business and flourish.

By improving connectivity, financial inclusion, and access to business and public services, technology can play an important role in promoting equal opportunity and ensuring that no one is left behind. Digitization has become an essential lever to accelerate the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals. As digitalization is also a lever of the new UNDP strategic plan, the UNDP representative reiterated the commitment of the UNDP to contribute to the operationalization of the roadmap and to the consideration of digitalization in projects and sectoral initiatives.