01/11/05

Few places left to participate in the first WAIPA Regional Investment Conference, on 15-16 November 2005, in Busan, Republic of Korea!

The first WAIPA Regional Investment Conference, organized in collaboration with Invest Korea and the United Nations on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), will be held in Busan, Republic of Korea , on 15 and 16 November 2005 , back-to-back with Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Investment Opportunities 2005. The theme of the conference is: "The Rise of Reciprocal Investment in Asia and its Implication for Emerging Economies". This event will provide an opportunity for national investment promotion agencies (IPAs) from the Asia-Pacific region to discuss inward and outward investment and its implications on the economic development of their countries.

On 15 November, four sessions will take the form of interactive debates between panelists and the audience, moderated by a media person. Subjects such as Asian FDI flows, policies and trends, success stories of intra-regional investment, business views on investing in Asia 's emerging economies and best practices to attract intra-Asian investment will be discussed. A fifth session, on 16 November, will take the form of an interactive roundtable on the theme: "Development Implications of FDI for Asia 's Emerging Economies". This conference will provide networking opportunities and facilitate the exchange of best practices in investment promotion.

Following the WAIPA Asia-Pacific Investment Conference 2005, an UNCTAD-WAIPA training workshop on Policy Advocacy for IPAs from Asia will be organized on 18 and 19 November 2005 . The objective of the workshop is to familiarize investment promotion professionals with the basic concepts of policy advocacy, the tools that IPAs can apply to advocate for changes in investment laws, regulations and policies and the strategic deployment of those tools to effect changes in the investment environment. The training course begins with an introduction to understanding how policy is made within a country, then discusses how an IPA can systematically collect and organize feedback concerning the policy environment from its investor clientele, and finally examines how IPAs can use their unique position to effect positive changes in the policy environment. The workshop is structured in a way that would enable participants to develop a policy advocacy strategy for their IPA at the end of the training course. The workshop curriculum addresses mainly IPA managers and senior officials involved in policy advocacy, including senior staff of the IPA’s executive office, spokespersons and external relations officers.

A dinner hosted by the Deputy Minister for Trade and Investment will be provided on Monday 14 November 2005 in the Nongshim Hotel. Complimentary lunch and dinner offered by the Head of Invest Korea and the CEO of KOTRA on 15 November 2005 will be provided to participants, as well as an invitation to the APEC Investment Opportunities 2005 on 16 November 2005 afternoon. A luncheon hosted by the Chairman of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) will be organized on 16 November 2005 , in Busan City Hall . An opening ceremony will precede the APEC event during the afternoon and a dinner will be hosted by the Minister of Commerce, Industry and Energy (MOCIE) for participating guests in order to provide an opportunity for networking between government officials from APEC member economies and investors. The participants will be invited to the APEC Member Economy Presentations on 16-17 November 2005. On 17 November 2005 , a luncheon will be hosted by the President of the Busan Port Authority and a Gala dinner by the Mayor of Busan. An industrial tour programme will be organized on 18 November 2005 .

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

UNCTAD Expert Meeting on Enhancing Productive Capacity of Developing Country Firms through Internationalization, 5–7 December 2005, Geneva, Switzerland

Internationalization of enterprises is an essential mean to strengthen the competitiveness of developing country firms. Outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) is an important aspect of enterprise internationalization. That is what the UNCTAD Expert Meeting will examine on 5-7 December 2005, in Geneva , Switzerland .

The rise in outward foreign direct investment from developing countries and economies in transition is an interesting phenomenon. It is not only large enterprises from developing countries that are investing abroad; SMEs are also doing so, to strengthen their competitiveness. These enterprises are investing abroad for various economic and corporate-specific reasons that can differ by nationality of firms, industry (manufacturing vs. services), size (large vs. SMEs) and types of OFDI (market-seeking vs. resource-seeking). Increasing cost, competition and saturated markets at home are among the key drivers of OFDI from developing countries. In addition, the need to enhance corporate competitiveness by accessing markets, technologies, brand names and natural resources and the desire to increase overall efficiency have motivated developing country enterprises to go abroad. Improvements in the OFDI policy environment and encouragement by home Governments have also played an important role in the process.

More countries are now paying closer attention to addressing their enterprise competitiveness through OFDI and are in turn becoming a growing source of FDI for other developing countries, thus strengthening South-South cooperation. In going abroad, developing country enterprises, large and small, face a number of key challenges. These challenges need to be addressed if developing country Governments want to use OFDI to enhance competitiveness of their enterprises through this means of internationalization.

The Expert Meeting is expected to bring together high-level experts from the public and private sectors, as well as academia and international organizations, to examine the above OFDI issues (trends, drivers, obstacles, best practices and impact), including identifying what policies and actions can be taken by Governments, the private sector and the international community to improve the competitiveness of developing country enterprises, especially SMEs, through the OFDI process.

For further information, please contact Mr. Kee Hwee WEE at: kee.hwee.wee@unctad.org

Waipa Regional Workshop, a cluster based approach to attracting FDI, 5-8 December 2005, Marseille, France

WAIPA is organizing a training workshop on "Cluster Creation and Development" for IPA professionals from the MENA and Gulf Region, in collaboration with UNCTAD. It will be held on 5-8 December 2005, in Marseille , France . Senior consultants from OCO Consulting will conduct this four-day workshop, which will be kindly hosted by the Euro-Mediterranean Network, ANIMA. The series on "Cluster Creation and Development" has received the best evaluation by participants in former WAIPA trainings. Previous workshops were held in Bahrain (December 2004) and Botswana (March 2004).

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 IPAs to segment sector and country targets and market their country and the IPA services in the most cost-effective way. The workshop will create awareness of the different marketing tools available and their performance ratios. The curriculum will include best practices by IPAs in the region. The specific sector-based case studies will be selected on the basis of the composition of workshop participants. The workshop structure has been designed to allow participants to work on a marketing strategy for their own IPA during the course. This will allow them to benefit from the input of other participants and the trainers. The workshop curriculum addresses mainly IPA professionals from the marketing, sales and strategy departments.

As for all WAIPA training activities, participation is free of charge for the members of the Association. However, each participant will be expected to cover his/her own travel and subsistence costs related to the programme (MENA participants should contact Elsa.Vachez@afii.fr for information on funding opportunities). Please respond before 20 November 2005 to the WAIPA Secretariat, at: info@waipa.org, as spaces will be limited.

An OECD Publication: "International Investment Perspectives", 2005 Edition

International direct investment has in the past been perceived either as a matter of rich countries reinvesting their “surplus cash”, or in terms of bouts of cross-border corporate takeovers between the most highly developed economies. However, the nature of international investment is rapidly changing, and countries commonly classified as “developing” have emerged as important outward direct investors. Many developing countries also partake in the process of globalisation – not simply as low-cost production sites but as full-fledged partners in international enterprises’ global value chains and trading networks. This contributes a new global architecture in which policy challenges tend to converge across geographic boundaries and levels of economic development.

The special focus of the present issue of International Investment Perspectives is policies bearing on the investment climate. The articles in this section are based on the ongoing work to establish a Policy Framework for Investment, including a Checklist of recommendations for policy makers aiming to create a good environment for attracting investment and maximising its economic benefits. The work is done by a Task Force including representatives of OECD and all interested non-member countries. The issue includes articles covering foreign trade, competition and fiscal policy.

The remainder of the publication addresses challenges arising from the Monterrey Consensus’ emphasis of international investment, especially foreign direct investment, as a key source of financing development. One article looks into the experiences with private participation in infrastructure, including development agencies’ efforts to promote it. Another addresses in detail Vietnam ’s experience with more than a decade of using development assistance as a tool for enhancing its investment climate.  This issue of International Investment Perspectives includes the following articles: Trends and Recent Developments in Foreign Direct Investment; Policy Framework for Investment - Special focus on trade, competition and tax; Encoraging Public-Private Partnerships in the Utilities Sector: the Role of Development Assistance; The Role of Development Assistance in Mobilising Investment: Recent Experiences in Vietnam.

This publication can be browsed or purchased through the Online Bookshop, on www.oecd.org