Ms. Patricia Francis, President of WAIPA, opened the Conference together with Mr. Rubens Ricupero, Secretary General of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), which hosted the Conference. Ms. Patricia Francis welcomed seven new members, which joined WAIPA in 2001, i.e., Instituto de Desenvolvimento de Minas Gerais – INDI (Brazil); Invest Hong Kong (China); the Libyan Foreign Investment Board (Libyan Arab Jamahiriya); Selangor State Investment Centre (SSIC) Berhad (Malaysia); Direction de la Promotion de l’Investissement Privé (Mauritania); Comisión de Promoción del Perú (PROMPERU); and Consejo Nacional de Promoción de Inversiones (CONAPRI) (Venezuela). The heads of the new member agencies were invited to make brief presentations on their IPA.

The session on the global economic downturn and investment promotion was chaired by Mr. Rubens Ricupero and moderated by Ms. Maria Livanos Cattaui, Secretary General of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC). The session started with a keynote address by Mr. Supachai Panitchpakdi, Director General Designate of WTO, on the importance of trade and investment in the development of low-income countries and on the decisions taken at the Doha Conference. He pointed out that FDI has become a major force in the globalization process and is playing a leading role in the integration of national markets into the world economy. Mr. Panitchpakdi also noted that a considerable number of developing countries has been left behind in the competition for FDI flows and that they will need assistance in improving their capacity to attract foreign investment. In this connection, he mentioned that UNCTAD as well as other international organizations are undertaking a number of technical assistance activities aimed at developing countries in the field of investment promotion.

 

Mr. Jeffrey Sachs, Director of the Centre for International Development, John F. Kennedy School of Government (Harvard University), highlighted in his presentation at WAIPA VII, that the global economic downturn was nearly over but the greatest risk for FDI could arise from the spill over effects from regional conflicts.

 

Addressing WAIPA VII by video link from Boston, Harvard economist Mr. Jeffrey Sachs said that in the aftermath of September 11, FDI decision-makers increasingly look at macroeconomic and political stability of potential investment locations. In this context, ‘near abroad’ may gain relevance as some firms look to geographical proximity for their investment decisions. However, he pointed out that the current global economic downturn is not the greatest challenge facing globalisation – it is, according to him, the threat of escalating conflicts in Central and South Asia, as well as in the Middle East.

Mr. Rubens Ricupero remarked that an increasingly important role for UNCTAD would be to assist developing countries, especially the least developed countries (LDCs), to improve their competitiveness to attract FDI. Linkages between foreign affiliates and the domestic economy were critical if FDI has to have the desired long-term economic impact. He added that countries should also develop their small and medium-sized enterprises in order to spread the advantages of the managerial culture.

Following the comments made by Mr. Sachs on the need for more FDI incentives in African countries, the panelists said incentives needed to be appropriately matched to the industries targeted by national promotion efforts. Investment decisions were in any case not made purely on the basis of incentives but on fundamentals, according to the panel. A liberalized regulatory framework, an adequate technology base and overall competitiveness are the most critical determinants.

There was a general consensus that the global economy is on its way to recovery, although in the immediate future, world FDI flows will likely to drop slightly. Panelists agreed that more competition for profits amongst firms could lead some enterprises to undertake investments in developing countries to gain a cost-based competitive advantage, thus improving FDI prospects for low-income countries.

The participants of a session chaired by WAIPA Vice-President, Mr. Arvind Mayaram, discussed the techniques to attract FDI and also enhance its benefits. Ms. Anh Nga Tran-Nguyen (UNCTAD) presented the industry and host country determinant factors in the creation of linkages between foreign investors, local firms and host countries. In the face of an increasingly competitive environment, Ms. Karin Millet of the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA) pinpointed that the main challenges for IPAs were to serve as primary source of quality information for investors. She said that this could only be effectively done if IPAs have a realistic understanding of their country’s competitive advantage, sharpen their targeting activities and have a consistent marketing strategy. The overall conclusion of the speakers was that IPAs should act more as a reliable partner providing quick and accurate answers to investors' queries.

At WAIPA VII, several senior representatives from top consulting firms offered their insight in the location decision criteria of TNCs. The presentations included an overview of investment location considerations for the increasingly popular shared services centres by Mr. Roel Spee of PricewaterhouseCoopers, a case study on the location decision-making process for reservation centres of a global leisure operator by Mr. Tom McClean of Ernst & Young, and an overview of corporate location decisions made in the Arab region by Mr. Khaled Abu Osbeh of Abu-Ghazaleh & Co. Consulting.

 

 

WAIPA VII was held parallel to UNCTAD’s Commission on Investment, Technology and Related Financial Issues. WAIPA joined the Commission in a session on the recently completed Investment Policy Review (IPR) of Tanzania. The IPR was presented by Mr. Khalil Hamdani (UNCTAD) and was commented on by the Tanzanian Minister of State, Dr. Abdallah Kigonda, as well as representatives of transnational corporations and investment promotion executives.

Several side presentations were given parallel to the main WAIPA VII Programme. MIGA launched a new investment promotion toolkit "The FDI Xchange", a Web and e-mail based information service that provides corporate investors, advisors and financial institutions with periodic updates containing timely and specific information on new FDI opportunities. The FDI Xchange, which will link IPAs with investors, intends to provide IPAs with a powerful promotion tool that will extend their marketing reach at no additional cost.

A special presentation was given on the Kijani initiative. The objective of the Kijani project is to conserve biodiversity in Africa through catalysing and promoting the development of commercially viable private sector investments in key biodiversity sectors. Following a presentation at WAIPA VII, delegates from the IPAs of Benin, Cameroon and Uganda offered to become focal points for the Kijani project in their countries.

During the session devoted to WAIPA Business, a report was given on the 2001 activities, especially on the capacity building workshops, which were conducted in partnership with a number of international organizations. The MIGA-WAIPA regional workshops on "Investment Promotion through the Internet" met a big demand and were held on three separate occasions in China, Jamaica and Uganda. An UNCTAD-WAIPA workshop on "Investor Targeting" held in Kingston, Jamaica, was attended by 23 IPA officials from 8 countries in the Caribbean and Central American region.

In 2001, WAIPA organized for the first time a training activity funded by the private sector. This was a workshop on "Event Management" adjusted to the specific needs of countries from the Pacific Region. The workshop, which was held in Nadi, Fiji, examined the techniques of effective investment event management and organization. Two similar workshops will be held in 2002. WAIPA corporate sponsors included BHAVAL Exports, DCM Shriram Consolidated Ltd., Essar Group, Ray Ban Sun Optics India Ltd., Samcor Glass Ltd. and VIDEOCON International Ltd.

Member agencies of the WAIPA Consultative Committee presented their inputs to the WAIPA work Programme for 2002-2003. The representative of the Foreign Investment Advisory Service (FIAS) offered to make the use of its forthcoming ‘benchmarking’ website available to WAIPA members, which will allow IPAs to compare themselves to other agencies on the basis of key statistical data such as, institutional and organizational structure, resources, work functions, indicators of performance, and equipment. UNCTAD offered to continue the hosting of the WAIPA Secretariat in Geneva and the coordination of WAIPA annual conferences. Additionally, there will be joint UNCTAD-WAIPA training workshops on "Investor Targeting" for IPAs from Central and Eastern Europe, Latin America and West Africa. The United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) offered WAIPA members a 20% discount on the purchase of its COMFAR software, which analyzes and selects higher-value-added investment projects. In 2002, MIGA will carry out two workshops on techniques of investment attraction through the Internet, scheduled to be carried out in Jordan and West Africa.

The consultancy firms Ernst & Young and PricewaterhouseCoopers have committed to a set of two workshops each, free of charge for WAIPA members. These workshops will offer hands-on training on FDI decision-making processes from a TNC perspective.

Following the elections for the WAIPA Steering Committee, the following new members were welcomed: Ms. Anabel González of the Costa Rican Investment & Development Board (CINDE); Mr. Ricardo A. Estrada of the Ecuadorian Corporación de Promoción de Exportaciones e Inversiones (CORPEI); Mr. Andrus Viirg of the Estonian Investment Agency (EIA); Ms. Christina Knutsson of the Invest in Sweden Agency (ISA); and Mr. Abdesalem Mansour of the Tunisian Foreign Investment Promotion Agency (FIPA).

On the last day of the Conference, the participants had the opportunity to visit Nestlé SA Research and Development Centre in Lausanne, Switzerland. The visit included a tour of the Netlé Research & Development Centre and presentations on Nestlé’s Programme for the integration of socially responsible environmental practices into its production and packaging processes.