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Interview with Hi

Hassan

Boulaleh

Minister of the Eco

Mr Boulaleh is a young has in the past represented approxi- Tourism in Djibouti is a strategic sec-
and dynamic Minister of mately 25% of our gross domestic tor which we will develop. Currently,
the Economy, with many product (GDP). This proportion is the infrastructure is a little lacking,
different portfolios under now decreasing, but nevertheless it but it is only a matter of time before
still amounts to between 15 and 20%. we will remedy this situation. In fact,
his umbrella. He was re-
We also export other products from one of the reasons for my presence
cently appointed minister,
member countries of the Common here is to promote tourism, and to
but before entering into
Market for Eastern and Southern develop tourist services. There would
this position he had been, Africa (COMESA). be whole new areas that would be
among other things, lectu- dedicated to the development of this
ring in economy and inter- The country is exporting services. In a sector. We are currently putting in
national law at the Univer- recent study carried out by The World place a marketing programme so that
sity of Djibouti. He was in Bank, it was noted that the tourism people understand that Djibouti is an
sector could potentially represent interesting tourist destination.
Geneva recently and we
10% of the GDP, so this is a sector that
had the opportunity of
we are currently intending to develop Djibouti is a small country and you
meeting him.
further. Geographically, we are not really have to promote it for people to
too far away from Egypt and, with the see it from another angle. In Djibouti
recent problems in that country, we there is a programme for the deve-
Q: Your Excellency, could you hope to attract more tourists. Ethio- lopment of the infrastructure, for
tell us about the economic situa- pia is a land-locked country with the instance, of maritime transport. We
tion in your country? result that there is more and more are planning to build three or four
integration between our two new harbour complexes in addition
The economy of Djibouti grew by countries. Therefore, we also hope to those we already have.
5.8% in 2012, but we hope to have that tourists who visit Ethiopia could
an even higher economic growth rate then spend a couple of days in Dji- Currently we are also building a rail-
next year. Since the financial crisis bouti to benefit from our sea coast. way that will link Djibouti and Addis
in 2008 there was a slowdown of the In Ethiopia there are a lot of archaeo- Ababa. The investors are mainly
economy, but with all the projects logical sites and much to visit, but Chinese, together with some other
that are currently underway, growth they do not have any beaches or ac- countries and donors.
could easily be a two digit number by cess to the sea. We are at the junction
2014. between the Indian Ocean and the Red We have set up a programme cal-
Sea, and we have splendid beaches. led Vision Djibouti 2030 which, if
Countries in the sub-region -- South We also have one unique feature: du- it materializes, would enable us to
Sudan and Ethiopia -- are more ring several months of the year, you be counted among the emergent
and more using Djiboutian infra- can swim with whales -- something countries, whether in human capital
structure, such as the port facilities. that is quite unique in this world. We development or infrastructure. There
These countries too have dynamic have Lake 'Assal, the lowest area of would be special economic zones
economies, so we benefit from a mul- water in Africa, a lake similar to the favouring tourism, as well as indus-
tiplier effect. one you find in Jordan -- the Dead trial production units which will not

Sea. As I said, given the trouble in only produce what we consume our-
We also export strategic services. We the Middle East, we hope that many selves but also lead to exports in the
rent out military bases to the United tourists will be tempted to come fields where we have comparative
States, France, Japan, etc., and this to us and discover something new. advantages.

0 International
I