3/10/06

 

We are pleased to announce that Trade and Investment South Africa (TISA) and Location Switzerland, State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) have become new members of WAIPA. The Association covers 152 countries worldwide with its 204 members.

Please see: www.waipa.org

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.

Africa investor Projects Summit, 9 th November, Nairobi, Kenya

The Africa investor Projects Summit is a forum to facilitate project implementation and match project developers and sponsors with investors. The 2006 Summit will bring together decision makers from Africa’s institutional investment community to engage project sponsors, consider specific investment projects and review the investment climate with government leaders and regulators. Sessions will look at: Institutional Investment as a Driver for Development; Financial Market Reforms and Capital Market Development; Investable Infrastructure Projects and Infrastructure as an Asset Class; Structuring Institutional Infrastructure Investments.

Confirmed speakers include: Hon Mukhisa Kituyi, Minister, Trade and Industry, Kenya, Prof Charles Soludo, Governor, Central Bank of Nigeria, David Donaldson, Manager, Advisory Services, IFC, Brian Molefe, CEO, Public Investment Commission, South Africa, Dr Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, Chairman, African Business Roundtable, Adan Mohamed, Managing Director, Barclays Kenya, Jonathan Wood, Head of Project Finance, Standard Bank, James C. Polan, Vice President of Small and Medium Enterprise Financing, Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC),Nkosana Moyo, Managing Partner, Actis, Deji Alli, MD/CEO, ARM Investment Managers, Brigitte Baillie, Partner, Webber Wentzel Bowens and Council Member, International Project Finance Association , Tayo Aderunokin, Managing Director, Guaranty Trust Bank

To reserve your place or find out more please contact Helen Stanley at Africa investor: hstanley@africapractice.com , tel: + 44 (0) 20 7462 7550. Please see: www.africa-investor.com

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 and the fourth sessions moderated by Mr. John Defterios, Group Vice president FBC, Media Broadcast, will be on IPAs' Effort to Improve their Capacity to Attract FDI & Implications on IPAs' Structure and Strategic Improvement of the Business Environment . Before the closing session, an interactive roundtable on the theme What can be done to benefit more from South-South FDI into Africa? will take place. This conference will provide networking opportunities and facilitate the exchange of best practices in investment promotion. GAFI offers free stands to WAIPA members. If necessary, hostesses will stay on WAIPA members' stands during the conference. All these services will be provided on request.

A welcome dinner on 16 November as well as a Bedouin party on 17 November will kindly be provided by GAFI.

Following the WAIPA Regional Investment Conference 2006, 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.

We warmely invite our members to attend and participate in this second WAIPA Regional Investment Conference!

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

For hotel reservation, please contact: eva.seddik@gafinet.org

WAIPA-OECD Workshop on Policy Advocacy Function of IPAs Towards Effective Communication of Investment Climate Reforms , 18 November 2006, Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt

The effectiveness of investment promotion depends only in part on servicing and facilitating potential investors. International experience demonstrates that an important aspect of a country's strategy for attracting investment is a transparent and competitive investment climate. Overregulation, market distortions and other deficiencies in the business environment can neither be overcome by promotion and marketing efforts nor by generous fiscal and financial incentives. Successful investment attraction requires political will and committed champions at the highest levels of government willing to collaborate actively with their IPA and the private sector. Such political will can support the ability of an IPA to act as an independent agent of change and to advocate policy, as opposed to only being a one-stop-shop for investors.

Most countries in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region have established investment promotion agencies or departments, but their competencies in providing this function as an effective policy advocate for investment climate reforms varies. While some countries have an independent IPA, others have investment promotion agencies that are embedded within government agencies and concentrate on image building and investor servicing. Certain IPAs in the MENA region report to the Prime Minister or the Crown Prince, and are therefore able to pioneer reforms more easily than those who do not have a high level reporting relationship.

Since 2004, the MENA-OECD Investment Programme has been working on empowering regional IPAs as pioneers of change within a broader strategy of investment climate reform in the region, which also incorporates tax policy, corporate governance and financial sector development. In 2005, the Programme has carried out a comparative study of the challenges faced by regional IPAs and has developed guidelines for investment promotion. In addition to the regional recommendations, the Programme also continues to carry out country-specific work within the framework of the National Investment Reform process.

A workshop tackling the inter-linkages of investment climate improvements and the policy advocacy function of IPAs, organised by the MENA-OECD Investment back-to-back with the second WAIPA regional investment Conference, will explore how the institutional set up of IPAs in the MENA region could be strengthened to serve the purpose of better policy advocacy. The workshop will leverage the OECD tools and methodologies, and in particular, the recently published Policy Framework for Investment (PFI) , which presents a checklist of issues for consideration by governments engaged in investment climate reform.

For additional information about the MENA-OECD Investment Programme please refer to:

www.oecd.org/mena/investment

WAIPA-MIGA Workshop on MIGA IPA Performance Review 2006: Providing Information to Investors Effectively , 18 November 2006, Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt

In the first public presentation since its launch, MIGA will present the results of this ambitious global survey of IPA performance. MIGA has assessed the performance of 125 IPAs in terms of their ability to effectively provide investor information through the IPA's website, and through their ability to handle direct investor inquiries. MIGA will present the eye-opening results and lessons, as well as telling in detail what exactly makes the difference between poor, good and best practice performance, and giving specific tips to improve your IPA's effectiveness.

Copies of the publication will be distributed among workshop participants.

Please see: www.waipa.org

The objective of the course is to help investment promotion practitioners to understand the changing global context in which FDI takes place and changing nature of FDI. In particular the shift towards more skill and technology based FDI projects rather than pure cost driven investments and the entrance of new actors that are at the forefront of the recent growth in FDI . In order to attract such investment IPAs need to revise their existing promotion strategies and improve their location competitive advantages.

Secondly, this workshop focuses on an existing ‘reservoir’ of FDI that is often neglected by IPAs: reinvestments by current investors that are already located in your country. This part of the workshop will focus on the following issues: How to approach existing investors and develop a network of good ‘testimonials’? How to keep investors within your country happy and develop successful aftercare programs?

Participants of the workshop will be provided with conceptual frameworks as well as some illustrations of investment promotion strategies and case studies that can be used to design and revise their own strategies. At the end of the workshop, participants will be able to develop investment promotion strategies for attracting new forms of FDI and develop succesful aftercare programs.

Please see: www.waipa.org

The Ad Hoc Expert Meeting on Advocacy in Investment Policies, convened in accordance with the decision taken by the Commission on Investment, Technology and Related Financial issues at its tenth session, will be held from 23 to 24 November 2006 (two full days). The Meeting will open at the Palais des Nations, Geneva, at 10 a.m. on Thursday, 23 November 2006.

The Meeting will discuss the issue of policy advocacy on investment issues and will look into efforts that countries are making, through investment promotion agencies, to influence policy change to effectively improve the country investment environment and attract increased levels of FDI in consonance with national economic development goals. The Meeting will identify principles, tools and instruments, and best practices to effectively advocate policy change based on national examples, the experiences gained through UNCTAD programmes and those of other organizations, and the inputs of Meeting participants.

Experts are expected to include officials from government offices responsible for formulation of investment policies and investment promotion, representatives of investment promotion agencies, the business community and civil society. Representatives from other public or private institutions, the academic world and NGOs, with proven expertise in the subject, will also be invited to participate. Experts are nominated by their national Governments but will participate in the Meeting in their personal capacities. Nominations should be submitted to the UNCTAD secretariat no later than 3 November 2006. Specialized agencies and intergovernmental bodies wishing to participate in the Meeting, as well as non-governmental organizations in the general category and those in the special category wishing to participate as observers, are requested to inform the UNCTAD secretariat of the names of their representatives.

Experts are encouraged to submit written contributions on experiences with policy advocacy in investment promotion at the national, subnational, or supranational level. These papers will be made available to other participants in the form and language in which they are received.

The Meeting will take place at the United Nations Office at Geneva, Palais des Nations. Simultaneous interpretation will be provided in the six official languages of the United Nations.

Nominations and related communications concerning representation at the Meeting should be sent to the UNCTAD secretariat, Intergovernmental Affairs and Outreach Service, Palais des Nations, CH-1211 Geneva 10; fax: +41 (0)22 917 214; e-mail: correspondence@unctad.org

Substantive and other enquiries should be addressed to Mrs. Nazha Benabbes Taarji-Aschenbrenner, Coordinator of the Meeting in the Substantive Division (Division on Investment, Technology and Enterprise Development), office E-10041, Palais des Nations, CH-1211 Geneva 10; tel: +41 (0)22 917 57 81 or 917 63 25, fax: +41(0)22 917 01 97, e-mail: nazha.benabbes.taarji@unctad.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 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

UNCTAD will be conducting, in partnership with WAIPA and the Durban Investment Promotion Agency (DIPA), two regional workshops on Investment Promotion and Investor Targeting, one for the mining and one for the tourism sector. The workshops will be held parallel from 4 to 7 December 2006 in Durban, South Africa. The training will be in English and will target officials from investment promotion agencies (IPAs) in Africa. The workshops will include sector tailored sessions on investor decision making, marketing your location and prospects, targeting potential investors and developing an action plan.

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