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World Economic Forum (WEF), a non-profit foundation based in Geneva, Switzerland, has selected Ethiopia to host the World Economic Forum on Africa in 2020. The announcement was made on Wednesday via Twitter by the Office of the Ethiopian Prime Minister, Abiy Ahmed.

The Prime Minister who attended the ongoing WEF Annual Meeting in Davos, Switzerland, reportedly met with Klaus Schwab, Founder and Executive Chairman of WEF.

“The Prime Minister and Professor Schwab have discussed the importance of a collaborative approach among government, private sector, civil societies in addressing key global challenges. They agreed that Ethiopia will host WEF in 2020,” Office of the Prime Minister – Ethiopia twitted.

This marks a significant milestone for the Horn of Africa nation credited with remarkable economic reforms and transformation. According to Trading Economics, Ethiopia’s GDP has grown from $43.31 billion in 2012 to $80.5 billion in 2017.

WEF was founded in 1971 by Klaus Schwab, a business professor at the University of Geneva. Initially called the "European Management Forum," the name was later changed in 1987 to the World Economic Forum. The organization also holds regional meetings each year in locations across Africa, East Asia and Latin America. The World Economic Forum on Africa held in Abuja on 7-9 May, 2014. The 2019 regional WEF will hold on September 4-6 in Cape Town, South Africa.

Abiy Ahmed has been championing reforms and courting investors since he took office in April 2018. At Davos, he called on investors to take advantage of the huge business opportunities available in Ethiopia. He pledged to do more to improve ease of doing business in the country.

“In order to enforce our upward trajectory and achieve even more rapid and sustainable growth, Ethiopia has embarked on a comprehensive reform process since last April,” the Ethiopian Prime Minister said.