The Sixth WAIPA Annual Conference took place at the Palais des Nations in Geneva from 12 to 15 February 2001. The theme of the Conference was Outward Investment And The Role of Outward Investment Agencies (OIAs) in the promotion of FDI. The Conference was attended by 96 senior officials of IPAs, private sector executives and representatives of international organizations.

 

Mr. Rubens Ricupero, Secretary-General of UNCTAD, highlighted in his address to the Conference the need for greater co-operation between the "practice" of investment promotion, as embodied in IPAs, and the technical co-operation activities being carried out by international development organizations, such as UNCTAD.

 

At the opening of the Conference, Ms. Patricia Francis, President of WAIPA, emphasised the importance of IPAs becoming familiar with measures taken in capital exporting countries to promote outward investment, especially to developing economies. She encouraged WAIPA members to seek partnerships with OIAs and invited these institutions to become members of WAIPA. The WAIPA Steering Committee reported on the activities which were carried out by WAIPA during the year 2000, including the Bangkok Conference, the Skills Training Workshop on Investment Promotion through the Internet for IPAs from Eastern Europe and Central Asia and the Investor Targeting Workshop for Asia. The Internet training was organised in co-operation with the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA) and UNCTAD and took place in Geneva from 25 to 27 September 2000. The Asian workshop on investor targeting (29 November - 1 December 2000) was held in Jaipur, India, and was organised in co-operation with UNCTAD, the Rajasthan Bureau of Industrial Promotion and the Indian Investment Centre. Other activities included three issues of the WAIPA Newsletter and the establishment of the WAIPA Website. More details on these activities can be found in the WAIPA Annual Report 2000-2001.

Mr. Arvind Mayaram, Vice-President of WAIPA, presented the WAIPA work Programme, which will be carried out in close co-operation with WAIPA’s support agencies. In 2001-2002, five workshops will be held in co-operation with MIGA on the use of the Internet in investment promotion. During that same period, UNCTAD will support WAIPA in organising two regional workshops on investor targeting, as well as study tours for junior IPA staff. The United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) will support the initiative to organise several event-Programmeing workshops for Africa. This project will build on the success of events that have targeted specific investor groups. A good example of that is the recently held stone mart in Jaipur, India. In addition, WAIPA also plans to organise a seminar on best practices in investment promotion policies and intends to further expand its new Web site.

Two sessions of the WAIPA Conference were directly linked to the theme of the event. The first focussed on services that are provided in home countries by OIAs to companies that wish to invest abroad. The second session dealt with the private sector and their experiences with outward and inward investment promotion agencies. Three OIAs gave presentations on their service portfolio that they provide to national companies that invest abroad. The session on OIAs was chaired by Mr. George Malcotsis, Managing Director of the Swiss Organisation for Facilitating Investments (SOFI). The first presentation was gave details on the different instruments used by SOFI in helping Swiss companies to invest in developing countries and economies in transition. The presentation on the investment agency in Portugal, entitled Investimentos, Comercio e Turismo de Portugal (ICEP) was given by Mr. Diogo Alarção. He underscored the synergies existing between the inward and outward investment promotion Programmes within ICEP. Both aim to strengthen Portugal’s business sector by: (i) supporting Portuguese companies in strengthening their international competitive position through overseas investments; (ii) promoting Portugal to foreign companies as an entry point to the European Union and as a springboard to other Portuguese speaking countries; and (iii) promoting linkages between foreign and Portuguese companies. The presentation on the Swedish Trade Council (STC) was give by Ambassador Hans Gronwall. Mr. Gronwall gave an insight to STC’s export promotion services and explained why STC becomes increasingly involved in assisting Swedish companies to establish representations in export markets and in securing overseas investment projects.

In a session in which Corporate Executives gave their perspectives on investment promotion services provided by inward and outward investment promotion agencies, presentations where given by four companies on investments in the European Union, Brazil, the Caribbean and Turkmenisthan, respectively.  The first presentation was given by Mr. Matt Exl from City Reach International; a London based provider of cost effective Internet infrastructure services. He focussed his presentation on the different service packages, which European IPAs offer and how this had affected his company’s investment location decisions. In a presentation by Mr. John Hanna, who represented Scotia Energy, the emphasis was shifted to assistance given by national institutions, in this case Invest in Scotland, in helping companies to invest overseas. This was also the thread of the story offered by Mr. Jurg Tanner, who was the project leader of a Swiss investment in the garment industry in Turkmenistan. Without the help of SOFI, the investment project would not have succeeded.  This could be seen, according to the former WAIPA President, as an encouragement for some of the more advanced developing countries to start helping domestic companies to invest abroad and by doing so, strengthen their international competitive position.

The third day of the Conference offered participants a chance to visit one of Switzerland’s leading agrochemical companies, Sygenta AG, a recent merger of Novartis Agribusiness and Zeneca Agrochemicals. Sygenta AG, which has annual sales of 7 US$ billion, is located in Basel.  In Basel, conference participants got a chance to have discussions with senior managers of Sygenta AG, among whom Mr. David Jones, who is the Head of Syngenta’s Planning and Business Development Department. In a separate meeting at the Basel Parliament Buildings, representatives from the Basel Canton Government, the Basel Chamber of Commerce and the Head of the Basel IPA, shared with conference participants the policies and measures which were taken over the years to attract the chemical industry to Basel and to make the Canton a leading European centre for this industry.