One aspect of the Millennium hype that has turned out to be mere rhetoric in this writer's view has been the character of investment facilitation for Ethiopians returning from abroad. While the recent gestures of partnership and closeness to the people demonstrated by the Prime Minister are admirable, the bureaucracy that must implement policy delegated from above has been less than flawless. Coming back with a genuine interest to advance the development of Ethiopia, Diaspora are being treated as foreign investors.

The impressive economic growth Ethiopia is experiencing is especially apparent to the infrequent visitor who may be stunned by the differences in numbers of shops or the construction boom in between trips. The challenge now, according to this Nobel Prize winning economist, is to continue this progress while mitigating inflation. The West, he claims has a role to play in living up to its promises of aid.