WAIPA members who will be attending the WAIPA World Investment Conference on 9-10 March 2005, in Geneva, Switzerland, Palais des Nations, are kindly requested to register if they have not already done so, by completing the registration form available on the WAIPA website: www.waipa.org.
We encourage you to register as soon as possible, as this year the WAIPA Conference will be taking place on the week of a major convention, and it will be difficult to guarantee hotel bookings after 14 February 2005. We thank you all in advance for your consideration.

World FDI Flows Grew at an Estimated 6% in 2004, Ending Downturn

Global foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows in 2004 are estimated to have risen by 6% to $612 billion, according to UNCTAD data recently released. As in 2003, however, flows to developed countries slumped, but that decline was offset by rising flows to developing countries and Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). Not only did this put an end to the global FDI downturn that had begun in 2001, it also meant that investment flows to developing countries and CEE surpassed their respective previous records. "This increase is good news for developing countries, which now account for an estimated 42% of world FDI inflows, compared to 27% during 2001-2003", says Karl P. Sauvant, Director of UNCTAD's Investment Division.
For more information, please see the press release available on: www.unctad.org, rubric "Press".

Welcome to new Investment Promotion Agencies from Afghanistan, Brazil, India, Iraq, Japan and Mexico!

We are pleased to announce that the Afghan Investment Support Agency - AISA, the Banco do Nordeste do Brazil S.A., the India Brand Equity Foundation, the Kurdistan Board of Promoting Investment in Iraq - KBPI, the Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO) and the Industrial Development Commission of Mexicali have become new members of the World Association of Investment Promotion Agencies. The Association covers now 145 countries worldwide with 173 agencies.

Call for case studies on FDI in R&D

This year's World Investment Report (WIR05) will focus on the globalization of innovation and R&D. Increased competitive pressure, technological progress and improved capabilities of human resources and institutions in developing countries are opening new ways of configuring innovative activities and R&D. Transnational corporations are already responding to these changes. For cost as well as quality reasons, they are considering a wider range of R&D locations than ever before – including in the developing world.
UNCTAD would welcome inputs from the WAIPA community in the form of brief case studies on recent R&D investments in individual countries. Contributions should be submitted before 25 February 2005.
Cases can be brief (1-2 pages) and provide background information on:
• the companies investing (name, country of origin, industry, purpose of investment, etc.)
• the role played by the investment promotion agency
• key promotional tools that may have been used to attract the investment;
• information on specific policy measures undertaken to make a country more attractive to FDI in R&D;
• possible (positive or negative) impacts on the host economy as a result of the investment (e.g. in terms of employment; linkages with local firms and institutions; upgrading; spillovers, etc.).

For more information, please contact kumi.endo@unctad.org, to whom the case studies should be sent. On condition that the case studies meet the necessary quality standards, they will be used as inputs to the WIR05.

MIGA Workshop:
"Benchmarking Yourself Against the Best", WAIPA World Investment Conference, 9-10 March 2005, Geneva - Switzerland, Palais des Nations

Companies spend vast sums on consultants to benchmark the characteristics of their business against their competitors in an effort to identify ways in which to improve their operational efficiency. It is equally useful for IPAs to undertake similar benchmarking efforts. During the WAIPA World Investment Conference to be held in Geneva, Switzerland, on 9-10 March 2005, the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA) of the World Bank Group will organize a workshop on "Benchmarking yourself against the best". MIGA experts will provide training on the two following programmes: the "MIGA-GDP Global IPA Benchmarking Program", a mystery investor helps benchmark 180 IPAs on aspects such as the usefulness of information provided by the IPA and its quality, timeliness, and the "MIGA's Enterprise Benchmarking Program", benchmarks the attractiveness of different countries by sector the same way on which investor company would when considering your location. This MIGA program has been implemented in South East Asia, Africa, the Western Balkans and China.