15/02/08

WAIPA World Investment Conference 2008, 18 – 21 April, Accra, Ghana

The WIC 2008 will be part of the World Investment Forum (April 19-21), sponsored by UNCTAD and WAIPA. The World Investment Forum will be held on the occasion of the UNCTAD XII Conference. Starting on April 18, the WAIPA General Assembly and the election of a new Steering Committee for the period 2008-2010, will take place in the afternoon followed by the Gala Dinner and the WAIPA Award Ceremony. The forum will provide an unprecedented opportunity for senior policy-makers, corporate executives, investors and investment promotion agencies to meet and interact through a series of conference, networking and social events.

Investment-led globalization continues apace—with both foreign direct investment (FDI) and trade flows reaching new all-times highs. As this process brings ever more change, there has never been a greater need to understand its salient features, implications and prospects. The World Investment Forum will explore future developments in FDI flows: where they will come from; where they will go; which sectors and industries will account for these flows, and what the new features of the corporate strategies that are driving the process will be. Particular emphasis will be placed on the new opportunities and challenges for investors, how global value chains and business linkages are evolving and how emerging economies can accelerate the development process through FDI.

Participants will include: Government and business leaders from both developed and developing countries; senior representatives from chambers of commerce and business councils; heads of inward and outward investment promotion agencies (IPAs) from 192 countries; and key global and African media. The Forum will be followed by UNCTAD XII (April 20-25). The theme of UNCTAD XII is “Addressing the Opportunities and Challenges of Globalization for Development”.

For further information such as the preliminary programme, the registration form and hotel information, please visit http://www.waipa.org and/or contact Ms. Ivanova at tel.:+4122 797 26 63 or e-mail address: alexandra.ivanova@waipa.org

2008 WAIPA Awards for IPA Policy Advocacy

WAIPA members are invited to nominate themselves for this year's WAIPA Awards. They will be awarded in collaboration with the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) at the 2008 Annual WAIPA Conference and World Investment Forum held this year in Accra, Ghana, from 18 to 21 April 2008. The focus of this year's awards will be policy advocacy.

To find information on application please check http://www.waipa.org and/or contact Ms. Beatrice Abel at tel.:+27 11 339 1757 or e-mail address: isa-beatrice.abel@waipa.org.

UNCTAD Investment Brief, Number 1/2008

FDI SURGED TO RECORD LEVELS IN 2007

Global flows of foreign direct investment (FDI) last year surged to the highest level ever recorded. UNCTAD estimates that total inflows reached $1.5 trillion, with significant increases in all major country groupings. However, investment activity may slow down in 2008, as a result of weaker economic growth and the credit crunch.

Mixed prospects for 2008

Despite unfavourable economic growth projections and potential tightening of rules for foreign investment in resource extraction, strong demand for natural resources around the world is likely to boost FDI in the extractive industries in 2008. At the same time, global external imbalances, sharp exchange-rate fluctuations, rising interest rates and increasing inflationary pressures, as well as high and volatile commodity prices, pose risks that may have a chilling effect on global FDI flows. Crossborder M&A activity already declined in the second half of 2007. The overall level of FDI activity in 2008 therefore remains uncertain.

UNCTAD Investment Briefs are published by the Investment Issues Analysis Branch of UNCTAD.
For information, contact Torbjörn Fredriksson at torbjorn.fredriksson@unctad.org. To view the complete report and for previous issues, see www.unctad.org

OECD Global Forum on International Investment VII: Best practices in promoting investment for development, 27-28 March 2008, OECD Conference Centre, Paris, France

CONFERENCE ANNOUNCEMENT AND CALL FOR PAPERS

The OECD Global Forum on International Investment (GFI) is the annual meeting of a global network of policy makers, investment promotion agencies, academics, business leaders, labour representatives, and members of civil society dealing with the policy challenges of international investment. The theme of this year’s conference is “Best practices in promoting investment for development”. The meeting will take place on 27-28 march 2008 at the new OECD Conference Centre in Paris France.
This call for papers invites contributions from WAIPA members focusing on the conference sub-themes, especially papers dealing with investment, trade, competition, and tax policy reforms aimed at promoting “investment for development”. Also welcome are papers dealing with “international investment and innovation”, “the social dimension of international investment agreements”, “policies for promoting investment in energy sustainability”, and “promoting investment for development: new approaches”. Given the focus of the GFII on the identification and disemination of practical policy solutions and knowledge, papers submitted for the conference should have a strong “applied” orientation.
Proposals and papers received will be reviewed by the OECD Secretariat and by members of the Advisory Expert Group to the GFII. All accepted submissions will be distributed as part of the official conference documentation and serve as background documentation for the relevant sessions in the programme. Depending upon the stage of development of individual papers (e.g. exploratory research versus the reporting of advanced empirical findings), authors will be invited to present their work either during regular conference sessions, poster sessions, or specially planned side events (e.g. breakfast sessions).
Papers should be no longer than 15 pages in length (approximately 7500 words) in English or French. However, much shorter submissions are also welcome.
For planning purposes, authors are strongly encouraged to indicate to the OECD Secretariat their intention to submit a paper on a given conference theme by 21 December 2007.  The deadline for final submissions is 29 February 2008.
General information on the Global Forum on International Investment, including the preliminary programme, can be obtained on the OECD website at: http://www.oecd.org/investment/GFI-7. Letters of intent, paper submissions, and further inquiries concerning the Global Forum on International Investment should be directed to the GFII programme manager, Dr. Michael Gestrin [Michael.gestrin@oecd.org].