NEW YORK – His Majesty King Mswati III has called upon Government to consider adding permanent residency as one of the incentives to attract Foreign Direct Investment.
According to a stetement by Eswatini Government media, His Majesty King Mswati III has been speaking during the Eswatini Business Forum in New York, held in collaboration with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
According to the statement, Eswatini presented six areas of possible investment estimated at over E52 billion, with a potential to create about 25,000 jobs.
Also in attendance were Minister of Commerce, Industry and Trade Manqoba Khumalo, UNDP Regional Director for Africa Ahuuna Eziakonwa and renowned musician Wycleaf Jean, among others.
Speaking at the Business Forum, His Majesty King Mswati III remarked that, “We are hopeful that after the seminar, the business community, private sector companies and multinational investors represented here will commit to investing in the Eswatini economy.”
His Majesty added that, “This would mark the beginning of future and further engagements, as well as networking on investment opportunities – Hence we say to you today, that Eswatini is open for business.”
“We wish to appeal to multinational financial entities to be sympathetic to the requests for financial support that is necessary to make these programmes a reality,” His Majesty the King remarked.
Speaking on work done under Eswatini Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Roadmap, His Majesty the King remarked that, “We can now confidently approach investors with projects that have sound information supporting the opportunity, including indicative returns and other key sector information around each area.”
According to the Government statement, Eswatini will participate for the first time in the SDG Investment Fair to be held in December this year, following the launch of the SDG Investor Roadmap recently.
In preparation for the SDG fair, Eswatini is receiving technical support from the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA) for which HMK expressed gratitude.
