We are pleased to announce that the Investment New Zealand Organization and the Investment Promotion Authority of French Polynesia - Tahiti Invest, have become the 166th and 167th members of the World Association of Investment Promotion Agencies (WAIPA). This Association covers now 142 countries worldwide.

A new UNCTAD service to the WAIPA community

More succinct information on investment-related issues, relevant to the WAIPA community, will be available through a new series of "Investment Briefs" developed by the World Investment Report (WIR) team at the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). The Investment Briefs are intended to help IPA executives get access to topical analysis of direct relevance to the investment promotion business. The first Brief has been distributed electronically to members of WAIPA and will also be made available at the WAIPA website. UNCTAD's Investment Briefs will be issued on a recurrent basis.

For more information, please contact Mr. Torbjörn Fredriksson at tel.: +41 22 917 21 43, email : torbjorn.fredriksson@unctad.org

The Fourth Regional Workshop on Cluster Creation and Development

The regional Workshop on Cluster Creation and Development for Middle East will be held in Bahrain on 12-13 December 2004. The Bahrain Promotions and Marketing Board will host the Workshop. The series on "Cluster Creation and Development" have received a lot of interest from the WAIPA community as great numbers of members have participated in the various workshops organized. The two-day event will cover leading practices and techniques of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and cluster identification and development: how to encourage indigenous business start-ups, incentives strategy, cluster management, tools for enhancing the technology transfer, linkages promotion with local business, enabling supply chain development and the benefits of the regional approach to clustering. The programme will include regional case studies as well as exercises on how to sell investment projects to investors. OCO-Consulting has developed the curriculum, based on best practices in investment promotion for the development of clusters. The training is tailored towards senior executives of Investment Promotion Agencies (IPAs).

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

Launching of an Investment Promotion Strategy Workshop for FIPA

The UNCTAD National Workshop on Third Generation Investment Promotion and Investor Targeting will be held in Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina, on 11-12 November 2004. The workshop is organized in collaboration with the Foreign Investment Promotion Agency (FIPA). It has been custom-tailored for an audience of FIPA Officials, representatives of regional development agencies and other Bosnia-Herzegovina government officials. Its focus is on presenting international best practices in investment promotion and investor targeting through an interactive and practical approach.

For more information, please contact Marko Stanovic at tel.: +41 22 907 48 88, e-mail: marko.stanovic@unctad.org

Publications

"Investment promotion tools in the MEDA region - Presentation and benchmarking of IPAs"
This survey has been conducted by the "Agence Française pour les Investissements Internationaux" (AFII) in collaboration with the Investment Promotion Agencies (IPAs) of countries which participate in the MEDA programme (Algeria, Cyprus, Egypt, Israel, Jordanian, Lebanon, Malt, Morocco, Palestinian territory, Syria, Tunisia, Turkey). It compares the development of territorial promotion policies, worldwide. It gives an analysis of the evolution of IPAs in this part of the world.

For more information, please see : http://www.animaweb.org/Documents/BenchmarkAPI.pdf

International Investment Instruments : Now available on line
Bilateral investment treaties (BITs) are one of the policy tools used by countries in their efforts to attract foreign direct investment (FDI). By signing these treaties, signatory countries send a signal of their commitment to providing a favorable investment climate. The United Nations Conference of Trade and Development (UNCTAD) has now made available the compendium of instruments online.

For more information, please see : http://www.unctad.org/Templates/Page.asp?intItemID=1528&lang=1

Foreign Direct Investment Statistics : FDISTAT
The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD)´s Division on Investment, Technology and Enterprise Development compiles comprehensive data and other information on flows and stock of foreign direct investment (FDI), operations of transnational corporations (TNCs), investment treaties and methodologies of FDI of all countries worldwide since 1990. The Division maintains the FDI/TNC database, the cross-border mergers and acquisitions database, the largest TNCs database, and investment treaty database on FDI and related indicators (e.g., FDI performance and potential indices) for about 200 countries and economies.

For more information, please see : http://www.unctad.org/Templates/Page.asp?intItemID=2921&lang=1

European Investment Monitor (EIM) Online
European Investment Monitor (EIM) Online by Oxford Intelligence is a leading online information provider that tracks inward investment across Europe. It is the benchmark for government and private sector organizations wishing to identify trends, significant movements in jobs and industries, business and investment.

For more information, please see :
http://www.ey.com/global/content.nsf/International/REHC_-_European_Investment_Monitor

The World Bank presents an in-depth analysis on the FDI Trends : "Looking Beyond the Current Gloom in Developing Countries"
The fall in foreign direct investment (FDI) since 1999, and China's growing share worry most developing countries. But an in-depth look reveals new and promising trends.

For more information, please see :
http://rru.worldbank.org/documents/publicpolicyjournal/273palmade_anayiotas.pdf