21/09/08

Upcoming Events

WAIPA Events

From 30 March to 3 April 2009, WAIPA will be organizing, in collaboration with and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), a study tour to the Office of the Investment Ombudsman at KOTRA in Seoul, Republic of Korea.

The study tour to Seoul will focus on investor aftercare and investor servicing. The preliminary programme will soon be posted on the WAIPA website.

Participation in the study tour will be free of charge for WAIPA members, but costs for travel and accommodation should be covered by the participants or their employers. UNCTAD will sponsor travel and accommodation expenses for a limited number of participants from least developed country (LDC) IPAs.

All applications for the study tour should register with the WAIPA secretariat. Applicants must hold a university degree in business, economics, law or a related field, and have a minimum of two years work experience in investment promotion. Candidates must also be fluent in English. After completion of the study tour, the trainees are requested to submit a written evaluation report to the WAIPA Secretariat. Sponsored participants should in addition submit a brief report to UNCTAD indicating lessons learned and practical implications for their work.

For UNCTAD sponsorship, an official request should be sent before 10 March 2009 to UNCTAD on the IPA's letter head and signed by the head of the agency. An advanced copy of the application could be submitted by fax or as a scanned copy by e-mail to the Investment Facilitation Section, DIAE/UNCTAD (fax number +41-22 917 01 97 or e-mail: (iif@unctad.org). UNCTAD will finance only one participant per IPA. Priority will be given to applications received from Asian LDCs.

For more information, please contact Carine Borel at bcwaipa@gmail.com, tel: +41 22 797 26 63.

From 1 to 3 April 2009, a WAIPA regional workshop for investment promotion agencies (IPAs) in Africa entitled "Promoting and Retaining Investment in Times of Crisis" will be run by UNCTAD. The workshop will be hosted by the Tanzania Investment Centre in Dar-es-Salaam.

The training will focus on practices and techniques that can be used by investment promotion practitioners from least developed countries to attract and retain foreign direct investment (FDI) during the current economic and financial crisis. The workshop will include sessions on investor aftercare to retain investments, policy advocacy to continue improvements in the business environment and prepare for the resurge of FDI and on evaluating IPAs to review the agencies' operations in terms of performance and effectiveness.

For more information, please contact Mrs. Alexandra Tokareva at: alexandra.tokareva@waipa.org or at the following telephone number: +41 22 797 26 63.

UNCTAD could sponsor a limited number of IPA representatives from least developed countries (LDCs). For these sponsorships, please contact UNCTAD at e-mail address: iif@unctad.org or fax: +41-22-917 0197.

Other Events

iPAD Conferences in Africa – 10% off for WAIPA Members

iPAD Conferences this year will be hosted within 4 African regions. The invitation is extended to the WAIPA membership to be part of the participating association as well as various regional economic communities such as the SADC, AU, NBI and many more.

The iPAD Africa 2009 conferences and exhibitions will take place as follows:

• 24 – 26 March 2009, Hotel Tropico, Luanda, ANGOLA
• 11 – 13 August 2009, Kempinsky, Dar es Salaam, TANZANIA
• 6 – 8 October 2009, Grand Hotel Kinshasa, Kinshasa, DRC
• 17 – 19 November 2009, TBA, Accra, GHANA.

For the conference to be held in Angola, visit www.ipadafrica.com/angola and quote the sales code MW01 to qualify for 10% off the registration fee.

The Infrastructure Partnerships for African Development (iPAD) Angola 2009 conference provides an ideal forum for government and business to meet and explore opportunities for developing and investing in the key infrastructure sectors of power, mining, finance, oil and gas, public works and transport, telecoms and ICT. The iPAD Angola 2009 conference and product showcase is a unique opportunity to gain firsthand experience on investment and infrastructure development.

Register now to qualify for 10% off the registration fee!

Visit www.ipad-africa.com for the complete set of conferences.

For the visa application process, please contact sean.intiomale@spintelligent.com

Publications

UNCTAD-WAIPA survey on Agricultural Production, February–March 2009

WAIPA and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) are currently undertaking research related to foreign direct investment (FDI) in agricultural production. To better understand the role of investment promotion agencies (IPAs) in attracting FDI into this sector, a joint-survey has been developed.

This week, an invitation to participate in this online survey will be sent to all WAIPA members. The research results will be used as an input to the World Investment Report 2009 which focuses on transnational corporations (TNCs), agricultural production and development. Also a separate note on the survey results will be provided to all participating IPAs.

For more information on the survey, please contact Thomas van Giffen at thomas.van.giffen@unctad.org or at the following telephone number: +41 22 917 5499.

New UNCTAD publication on evaluating IPAs

The third issue of UNCTAD’s Investment Advisory Series (A), entitled Evaluating Investment Promotion Agencies, was launched in December 2008, at the WAIPA Investment Conference in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The publication was prepared in cooperation with WAIPA and has been distributed free-of-charge among investment promotion agencies (IPAs).

IPA evaluation is highly topical: the challenges brought by the on-going financial and economic crisis will require more effective investment promotion practices. Meanwhile, governments are reviewing the funding of IPAs and even the need for such institutions in face of the economic downturn. Evaluation can give input to improve IPA performance and provides evidence-based information to policy makers.

The new UNCTAD publication takes two approaches to evaluation: is the IPA “doing the right thing” and is it “doing the thing right”? The first approach looks at the IPA in terms of its reason for being: why is it operational? Given the rationale of the IPA's existence and the suitability of its activities, the second approach considers if the IPA is carrying out those activities in an efficient way.

The publication presents a generic method to determine the outcome of IPA activities and discusses the advantages and disadvantages of various tools, data and information sources used for evaluation.

For further information, please contact UNCTAD at iif@unctad.org or fax: +41-22-917 0197.