Mr. Chief Office of the International Organization for Migrants,

Mr Secretary General,

Directors,

Mr. President of the High Council of Togolese Abroad,

Mr. Coordinator of the Diaspora Window,

Ladies and Gentlemen, Leaders of Civil Society Organizations,

Dear compatriots of the Togolese diaspora,

Dear friends of the press,

Distinguished Guests,

It is with great pleasure that I address you, on behalf of the government, to wish you, first of all, a cordial welcome to this official launching ceremony of the census of Togolese abroad.

Ladies and gentlemen,

The secret and legitimate wish of all leaders is to drive the structural transformation of the economies and societies for which they are responsible. If until recently the global environment offered a panoply of levers on which they can count, the current globalized economic game, characterized by various crises, leads our countries to resort, more and more, to the endogenous quality of their human capital and alternative sources of funding, including contributions from the diaspora in human, financial and relational resources feature prominently.

In this regard, the Togolese government under the leadership of the President of the Republic, His Excellency Faure Essozimna GNASSINGBE , has made informed choices by distinguishing itself in an inclusive and pragmatic dynamic for more than a decade through the establishment incentive mechanisms favorable to the participation of Togolese abroad in the work of national construction.

However, the absence of reliable data on this large section of the Togolese population living abroad makes it difficult to define and better adapt the policies and initiatives taken by the government with regard to the diaspora. Similarly, the national preference for which we have opted requires that we have information on the skills of Togolese abroad in order to use it when we need a particular expertise.

It is to respond to these concerns that Togo has undertaken to carry out, for the first time in its history, a census of the members of the Togolese diaspora in the world. Recent events in Ukraine and the need to provide the best and fastest protection to our compatriots explain the need to know where and how many they are. And this is just one example among many others. The census is no longer presented as an option, but a necessity.

Ladies and gentlemen,

 This census project aims to identify Togolese in the diaspora in order to better know them quantitatively and qualitatively and to control their distribution in the world.

At the end of the census campaign which starts today, Togo aims to acquire a robust, efficient and reliable data center providing quality information on the diaspora on which the public authorities can rely. to initiate targeted actions likely to strengthen the contributions of Togolese abroad to the national development process.

Distinguished Guests,

The results of the census of Togolese abroad will enable the government to expand and adapt the various public development policies it is developing in order to make them even more inclusive.

The census data will also be used to draw up the skills map, the directory of entrepreneurs and investors from the diaspora, the placement platform for Togolese abroad, etc. They will also be used to better understand the profile of Togolese abroad and complete, with reliable data, the general population and housing census (5th RGPH).

Ladies and gentlemen, Dear participants,

 Allow me once again to take this opportunity to pay, on behalf of the Togolese government, a well-deserved tribute to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), to the UNDP and to all the technical and financial partners who are supporting us in this initiative to strengthen the contributions of the Togolese diaspora to national development.

Finally, I would like to urge all stakeholders, particularly diplomatic missions and consular posts, HCTE country delegates, leaders and other representatives of associations and opinion leaders, to get involved in this process and mobilize members of the Togolese diaspora in all countries to enlist with the hope that at the evaluation, many positive results will be revealed to us thanks to the innovative digital tool implemented to carry out this census. This is the only way that will allow us to exploit the structure, quality and wealth of the Togolese diaspora in order to transform its strategic demographic asset into an economic and social dividend in the interest of our country.

I would also like to urge the media to relay the information so that throughout the country we can inform our relatives residing abroad and invite them to register.

It is on this appeal that I officially launch, in the name of the President of the Republic, His Excellency Mr. Faure Essozimna GNASSINGBE, the first census of Togolese abroad.

 Thank you !