18/10/04

Welcome to Honduras !

We are pleased to announce that the Foundation for Investment and Development of Exports (FIDE) from Honduras has become the 165th member of the World Association of Investment Promotion Agencies (WAIPA). This Association covers now 140 countries worldwide.

New member of the WAIPA secretariat on board

We are pleased to announce that a new member has joined the WAIPA Secretariat. Karine Campanelli holds a masters degree in econometrics and in project management. Prior to joining WAIPA, she worked as an economist for the CCSO, an Association that is closely linked to the Département de l'Economie, de l'Emploi et des Affaires Extérieures of Geneva. In this position, she helped develop innovative technological projects. She hopes that her past experience will be useful to WAIPA and looks forward to working together with all WAIPA members and serving them.

Email : karine.campanelli@unctad.org

Forthcoming WAIPA workshop on Strategic Marketing

The third regional World Association of Investment Promotion Agencies (WAIPA) workshop on Strategic Marketing will be held in Marseille, France, from 1 to 2 December. The event is sponsored by IBM Plant Location International (Belgium) and will be hosted by the Euro-Mediterranean Network, ANIMA. The objective of the course is to help investment promotion practitioners to understand foreign investors' needs and on that basis, design a marketing strategy. Workshop participants will be introduced to analytical tools for Investment Promotion Agencies (IPAs) to segment sector and country targets, and market their country and the IPA services in the most cost-effective way. The curriculum will include, among others, best practices by IPAs from the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) and Gulf region. Invitations will therefore also be sent to WAIPA members from this region.

For more information, please contact Vladimir Pankov at tel: +41 22 907 56 10, e-mail: vladimir.pankov@unctad.org

Forthcoming OECD event

An International Training and Strategy Seminar on the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises will be held in Berlin, Germany, from 14 to 15 October 2004. The seminar aims to support and build capacity on the use of OECD Guidelines among NGOs. The first day of this seminar will focus on training of NGOs and disseminating information about the use of the OECD Guidelines. The second day will have a more strategic character. The practical application of the OECD Guidelines as an opportunity to exchange experiences of both environmental and social issues will be discussed. The focus of the seminar is also on Eastern Europe and new member states.

For more information, please see : http://213.197.246.50/oecdwatch/

Online discussion sponsored by a World Bank's Unit : "Do Changing FDI Trends Require Governments to Adopt New Promotion Strategies ?"

What type of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) should countries try to attract? Which sectors should they target for such investment? When should countries use incentives to attract foreign investment, and which types of incentives should be used? Which factors have led to the change in foreign investment flows? How important are investment promotion agencies in getting more and better FDI? These are some of the questions raised in an online discussion sponsored by the World Bank's Rapid Response Unit, which will run through October 25, 2004.

To join the discussion, please see : http://rru.worldbank.org/Discussions/topics/topic53.aspx

Forthcoming UNCTAD event : Investment Policy Review of Benin

The Investment Policy Review (IPR) of Benin will be considered on Tuesday, 2 November 2004, within the framework of the work of the Commission on Investment, Technology and Related Financial Issues. The event will take place in Room XXVI of the Palais des Nations, Geneva, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.

The demise of social economic policies in 1989, characterized by widespread privatization policies and sweeping political reforms, were crucial in enabling Benin to attract Foreign Direct Investment (FDI). However, in 1994 Benin experienced a dramatic drop in FDI from which it has yet to recover. The IPR of Benin analyses three main areas that should contribute to increasing the efficiency and effectiveness of FDI : the legislative framework of Benin that, initially, contributed to increasing FDI needs to be further modernized, the impact of four sectors – agriculture and agro-industry, tourism, cotton, and mining – on the attractiveness of FDI in Benin, finally, the vital role of the port of Cotonou for the nation's development process.

For more information, the report can be downloaded from the website www.unctad.org/ipr

Publications

Global Investment Prospects Assessment (GIPA)

The Global Investment Prospects Assessment (GIPA) by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) is designed to assess short- and medium-terms prospects for Foreign Direct Investment (FDI). It analyses predicted future patterns of FDI flows at the global, regional, national and industry levels from the perspectives of global investors, host countries and international FDI experts. It also analyses evolving trends in the strategies of TNCs as well as FDI policies. GIPA is designed to fill a research and policy analysis gap, equipping Governments and business alike with a critical instrument for proactive development of policies and strategies. The Global Investment Prospects, from 2004 to 2007, is composed by three surveys, that complement each other and allow for direct comparison of the results obtained : "A worldwide survey of international investment location experts in FDI", "A worldwide survey of national investment promotion agencies (IPAs)", and "A worldwide survey of the world’s largest transnational corporations (TNCs)". This survey can be useful tool for the Investment Promotion Agencies, giving them trends about future FDI flows at different level and from different perspectives.

For more information, please see : http://www.unctad.org/Templates/StartPage.asp?intItemID=2990&lang=1

National Bureau of Economic Research, Massachussetts, U.S.A Paper : "The comovement of returns and investment within the multinational firm" – Authors: Mihir A. Desai and C. Fritz Foley

This paper presents evidence on the comovement of returns and investment within U.S. multinational firms to explain the synchronization of business cycles. These firms constitute significant fractions of economic output and investment in most large economies, suggesting that they could create significant economic linkages. The interrelationships and the importance of multinationals to local economies suggest that global firms may be an important channel for transmitting economic shocks.

For more information, please see : http://papers.nber.org/papers/w10785.pdf