18/09/08

Upcoming Events

WAIPA’s popular study tour programme aims at enabling professionals to learn from experienced IPAs worldwide. It is geared towards professionals from WAIPA member agencies; the programme is designed to provide participants with the opportunity to gain experience in investment promotion and investor targeting from successful IPAs.

The training is free of charge for WAIPA members, the travel and accommodation costs for agencies from LDCs are borne by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).

This year, investment promotion professionals from IPAs will be trained by Invest in Sweden Agency (ISA). The preliminary programme will be soon available on the WAIPA website www.waipa.org

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

WAIPA Workshop on “Aftercare and Corporate Location Benchmarking”, 28-29 October 2008, Manama, Bahrain

The overall objective of this workshop is to further develop and enhance aftercare strategies and to provide concepts and input for IPAs and IPIs to serve and assist their clients in making competitive investment decisions. Participants will be provided with conceptual frameworks as well as some illustrations of investment promotion strategies and case studies that can be used to inform the design and management of their own aftercare strategies and investor servicing strategies. At the end of the workshop, participants will be able to further develop investment promotion strategies for attracting FDI and tap into the market of existing investors who are increasingly facing more complex globalization strategies. The workshop requires active participation as well as some preparation.

The workshop will be given by Investment Consulting Associates (ICA).

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

High-level Investment Forum for Landlocked Developing Countries, 1 October 2008, New York, USA

On 1 October 2008, the United Nations Office of the High Representative for Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States organizes in cooperation with UNCTAD and the World Bank a High-level Investment Forum for landlocked developing countries (LLDCs) at the United Nations Headquarters in New York.

CEOs of global companies, representatives of business associations, Heads of Investment Promotion Agencies, high-level policy makers and experts will be speaking on foreign direct investment (FDI) trends and prospects in LLDCs and on best practices in attracting FDI to these locations. The meeting will be opened by the United Nations Deputy Secretary General, Dr. Asha-Rose Migiro, UNCTAD's Secretary-General, Dr. Supachai Panitchpakdi and Mr. Rajat Kumar Gupta, Vice-Chairman of the International Chamber of Commerce. A detailed programme of the meeting will be soon posted on the UNCTAD website (www.unctad.org).

The list of LLDCs informally accepted by UN member States on geographical grounds include Afghanistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bhutan, Bolivia, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Central African Republic, Chad, Ethiopia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Lao People's Democratic Republic, Lesotho, Macedonia (Former Yugoslav Republic of), Malawi, Mali, Moldova (Republic of), Mongolia, Nepal, Niger, Paraguay, Rwanda, Swaziland, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uganda, Uzbekistan, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

For more information on the Forum, please contact Paul Wessendorp at UNCTAD on e-mail address: iif@unctad.org

iPAD Central Africa Conference, 7-9 October 2008, Kinshasa, DRC

The 4th Infrastructure Partnerships for African Development (iPAD) CENTRAL AFRICA conference and exhibition takes place from 7-10 October 2008. iPAD Central Africa is a forum not only for mining stakeholders to make strategic partners and gather accurate information face-to-face, but it is also the only international business-to-business and investment forum in the DRC.

Delegates will get the opportunity to access and directly engage with government ministers and business decision makers in the mining, energy, telecommunications, banking and transport sectors. A two-day exhibition enables further networking and the possibility to witness the latest products, technologies and services available in the DRC.

On Friday, 10 October a visit to Inga I and II hydropower plant is offered, whereby delegates will view the maintenance and operations and view the site for Grand Inga, a bold infrastructure initiative with a long-term view to power the whole of Africa.

Register before 15 August to avoid missing out on the early bird rate! And for more information visit www.ipad-africa.com/central Please quote code WAI01 to qualify.

For sponsorship enquiries, contact Jean-Tite Olouumoussie: jeantite.oloumoussie@spintelligent.com
For registration and travel enquiries, contact Rue Limekhaya: rue.limekhaya@spintelligent.com
For conference and general enquiries, contact Nicole Smith: nicole.smith@spintelligent.com
Phone: +27 21 700 3500 & Fax: +27 21 7003501

IEDC Annual Conference 2008, 19-22 October 2008, Atlanta, USA

Join the International Economic Development Council in Atlanta for the world's largest annual gathering of economic developers, October 19-22. The three full days of discussions on the latest trends in economic development include 28 concurrent sessions covering topics ranging from regional partnerships, best practices in entrepreneurship, and sustainability with focus on issues like climate change and urban housing. Keynote speakers include Dr. Richard Florida, international best-selling author of The Rise of the Creative Class, who will be introducing his latest book, Who’s Your City?, as well as Dr. Arthur “Chris” Nelson whose groundbreaking article, “The Next 100 Million” became the template for the theme of IEDC’s conference.

Focusing on the booming world population, this conference will have industry leaders breaking down the current issues and new models essential for communities looking to capture the growth brought by the next billion. You can learn more about the conference at: http://www.iedconline.org/AnnualConference

Report on Past Events

Meeting of South American Investment Agencies in Buenos Aires

The first meeting of South American agencies was held on August 29th, in Buenos Aires. The investment promotion agencies had a good opportunity to better discuss cooperation amongst the South American countries in order to consolidate this region as a quality destination for foreign direct investment and as a platform for the development and regionalization of these countries’ companies. Beatriz Nofal, president of Prosperar, the Argentinean investment agency, and WAIPA director for South America, opened the meeting, followed by Mr. Alessandro Teixeira, president of Apex-Brasil and president of WAIPA and also by Mr. Antonio Hernández, Strategy director of Inters, the Investment Agency in Spain, and WAIPA director for the European Union.

In her speech, the president of Prosperar, Beatriz Nofal, highlighted the Meeting importance – a great opportunity to actively work, worldwide-integrated, on a positive cooperation agenda on investments and economic development in South America.

For Mr. Alessandro Teixeira, president of Apex-Brasil, it is important for the region to have a structured policy so that it can be converted into investments. If a work group is consolidated it will be possible to identify and promote the best sectors in each country to invest on them.

The Deputy Governor of the State of São Paulo, as well as authorities from many Brazilian states, such as Rio de Janeiro, Bahia, Minas Gerais and Brasília attended the meeting. Representatives of the investment agencies of Uruguai, Paraguai and Colombia were also presented, as well as Ministers of Economy, and fourteen directors from many Argentinean provinces.

Waipa attended the 12th China International Fair for Investment & Trade

The 12th China International Fair for Investment and Trade (CIFIT), one of the biggest events for investment promotion in the world and the biggest one in China, held in Xiamen, from September 8th through September 12 th. This year, WAIPA was represented for the first time with a stand in the fair.

The president of WAIPA, Alessandro Teixeira, gave a speech in the 2008 International Investment Forum at the opening of the fair, on the subject: Strengthening International Cooperation in Investments and Promoting Global Economy Development. China is also becoming an important outward investor, he said, thanks to its rising stock of foreign exchange reserves as well as an undeniable demand for natural resources. For him, China is increasingly becoming a strong source of investment for many resource-rich countries in Africa, Central Asia and Latin America.