18/09/06

 

We are pleased to announce that the Mpumalanga Economic Growth Agency (MEGA) located in South Africa has become a new member of WAIPA. The Association covers 151 countries worldwide with its 202 members.

Please see: www.waipa.org

WAIPA and the Ministry of Commerce of People's Republic of China (MOFCOM) jointly sponsored a Roundtable Conference for International Investment Promotion Agencies, on 9 September 2006, during the 10 th China International Fair on Investment & Trade (CIFIT), which was held from 8 to 11 September 2006, in Xiamen, China. More than sixty participants discussed Capacity Building of IPAs and Cooperation between IPAs during the roundtable and most of them participated in the UNCTAD-WAIPA regional workshop on Attracting FDI into the Tourism Sector, on 10-12 September 2006. The Ministry of Commerce of China, MOFCOM hosted the workshop and sponsored participants from developing countries (DC). UNCTAD and WAIPA sponsored participants from least developed countries (LDCs). The overall objective of the workshop was to enhance the understanding by Asian investment promotion and tourism agencies and/or authorities of the nature, design and development of investment promotion strategies for attracting FDI into the tourism sector. The participants benefited from a very interactive discussion among practitioners and professionals in tourism.

This Cameroon workshop will examine the feasibility for developing sub-regional marketing strategies. The workshop will identify the advantages for promoting sub-regional groupings and examine the feasibility for cooperation between ACP countries. Participating IPAs at the workshop will explore the issues around developing sub-regional marketing strategies. Participants will be trained in how to apply the technique of location benchmarking to understand the competitive position of each sub-region identified, and how the region can be marketed more powerfully to inward investors. Lessons from the experience of other sub-regional groupings will be used to understand how in practice IPAs from different locations can pool resources and collaborate with a win-win outcome. The workshop will be led by the consultant Mrs. Sylvie Farjon.

To register, please contact Mrs. Beatrice Abel, at: isa-beatrice.abel@waipa.org or at the following telephone number: +41 22 797 26 63. The deadline for registration is 15 September 2006. Please note that a few sponsoring opportunites are available for participants from ACP countries which will be allocated on a first come, first served basis .

This workshop on Investor Servicing and Aftercare which will be held on 17-18 October 2006 in Mexico City, Mexico, will kindly be hosted by BANCOMEXT. It will provide investment promotion agencies with a view to strengthen their proposal to respond to needs and requirements of investors. The workshop contains training topics such as “Your location's value proposition: a mean to attract investors” and “ Retaining FDI within your location and challenging competition”, among others. This event will be attended by promoters of all Mexican States and of industrial parks. A recognition diploma will be provided to all participants.

Bancomext will be able to get special rate for participants' accomodation, and especially for WAIPA members. Bancomext will also provide lunches during the two day workshop.

Last but not least, a tour of Mexico City and a visit of the Pyramids will be proposed for all panelists and participants, on Thursday, October 19.

More information is provided on: www.waipa.org

OECD Global Forum on International Investment: Enhancing the Investment Climate, 6-7 November 2006, Istanbul, Turkey

The OECD Glob al Forum on International Investment (GFII) is an annual event organised each year since 2001 under the auspices of OECD’s Investment Committee. It brings together investment policy makers, international organisations, as well as representatives from business, labour, academia and civil society to discuss current investment policy issues and challenges.

This year’s conference is co-hosted by the OECD and the Turkish government in Istanbul on 6-7 November 2006. It is organised with the financial support and in cooperation with the World Bank. Previous Global Forums have been held in Mexico, China, South Africa, India, and Brazil.

On the morning of 6 November a Country Roundtable will take place immediately prior to the Global Forum. It will cover Turkey’s recent experience with strategies for enhancing the enabling environment for investment. The main focus will be on various aspects of regulatory reform and their impact on Turkey’s investment climate. Immediately following this Country Roundtable, the 2006 Global Forum on International Investment will begin. The first session of the GFII will focus on the early experiences of countries in putting the recently completed Policy Framework for Investment (PFI) into action. Given the overall theme of the conference, the second half of this session will focus on the infrastructure chapter of the PFI in particular. The second day of the GFII will be dedicated to a focused discussion of the issue of international investor participation in infrastructure. This will serve as one of the final steps in testing the draft OECD Principles for International Investor Participation in Infrastructure on real-life cases. Countries participating in the ongoing OECD investment activities focusing on South-Eastern Europe, the Middle East and North Africa and sub-Saharan Africa will be sharing their national experiences.

The second WAIPA Regional Investment Conference, 17-18 November 2006, Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt

The second WAIPA Regional Investment Conference, organized in collaboration with the General Authority For Investment and Free Zones (GAFI), will be held in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, on 17 and 18 November 2006. The theme of the conference is: IPA Capacity Building & Investment Promotion Strategy in Africa and the Middle East . This event will be the opportunity for national and sub-national investment promotion agencies (IPAs) from the African region to discuss South-South investment and its implications on the strategic development, the capacity building and the structure of IPAs within the region.

On 17 November, the inauguration ceremony will be addressed by H.E. Ahmed Nazif, Prime Minister of Egypt and H.E. Mahmoud Mohieldin, Minister of Investment, Egypt.

Two sessions, moderated by Mr. Dan O'Brien, Senior Europe Editor/Economist, from The Economist Intelligence Unit, will follow and take the form of interactive debates between the panelists and the audience. Subjects such as Trends & Implications of South-South FDI within and into Africa and the Middle East as well as C ase Studies on South-South Investment & the Role of IPAs will be discussed. On 18 November, the third session will be on IPAs' Effort to Improve their Capacity to Attract FDI & Implications on IPAs' Structure . An interactive roundtable on the theme What can be done to benefit more from South-South FDI into Africa? w ill follow. The last plenary session will discuss Strategic Improvement of the Business Environment – Case Studies and Suggestions . This conference will provide networking opportunities and facilitate the exchange of best practices in investment promotion.

Following the WAIPA Regional Investment Conference 2005, training workshops will be organized on 18 November 2006 in collaboration with WAIPA partners. And on 20-21 November, a workshop on Investor Servicing and Aftercare will take place in Cairo, Egypt. More information will be communicated in the next WAIPA electronic bulletins.

Complementary dinners on 16 and 17 November 2006 will kindly be provided by GAFI to participants.

For further information, please see: www.waipaegypt2006.org or contact: Mrs. Isa-Béatrice Abel at: isa-beatrice.abel@waipa.org

WAIPA’s popular study tour programme aims at enabling young professional staff of WAIPA member agencies to visit and learn from experienced IPAs worldwide. The study tours are scheduled for a period of up to two weeks and cover the whole range of IPA activities through hands-on experience and on-the-job training.

Study tours are geared towards young professionals from WAIPA member agencies; the programme is designed to provide participants with the opportunity to gain first-hand experience in investment promotion and investor targeting from successful IPAs. The training is free of charge for WAIPA members.

Applicants must hold a university degree in Business, Economics, Law or a related field, and have a minimum of two years of work experience in investment promotion. Candidates must be fluent in English. After completing the study tour, the trainees are requested to submit a written evaluation report to the WAIPA Secretariat. Upon successful conclusion of their training, the participants receive a certificate of completion.

In 2006, investment promotion professionals from IPAs from LDC countries will be trained in South Africa under the leadership of Trade and Investment Kwa Zulu Natal (TIKZN) with involvement of Trade and Investment South-Africa (TISA) and the Durban Investment Promotion Agency (DIPA) in the period from 20 November to 1 December .

For more information, please contact Mrs. Beatrice Abel, at: isa-beatrice.abel@waipa.org or at the following telephone number: +41 22 797 26 63, or see: www.waipa.org

More information in the next Newsflash as well as on the WAIPA website: www.waipa.org