WAIPA AFRICAN REGIONAL CONFERENCE 2010

Yaoundé - Cameroon 14th - 16th April 2010

"CHALLENGES POSED TO AFRICA’S ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT IN THE NEW WORLD ECONOMIC ORDER AND THE WAY FORWARD

Please click on the link below to download the presentations.

• IFC World Bank
• John Henley – University of Edinburg
• Ruth Nyakotey – UNIDO
• Hilary Nwokeabia - UNCTAD
• Declaration
• Final Program

The Cameroun Investment Promotion Agency (CIPA), WAIPA Regional Director for Africa, hosted the first-ever WAIPA African Investment Conference, at the Hilton Hotel, in Yaoundé, Cameroun, on April 14th-15th, 2010.

Organized jointly by CIPA and WAIPA, the African Conference brought together more than 150 participants, among them high-level representatives from around 30 investment promotion agencies (IPAs) from the region, from 27 different countries, senior government officials, including the Minister of Industry, Mines and Technological Development of the Republic of Cameroon, Mr. Ndanga Ndinga Badel, as well as representatives of UNCTAD, UNIDO, World Bank and other international organizations, regional development banks, academia, opinion makers and executives of multinational companies, to discuss vital issues affecting IPAs in Africa and its challenge in attracting investments into the region. The event obtained a wide media coverage in Cameroon and outside.

This first meeting of the WAIPA African Chapter represented a very timely and extraordinary opportunity for the French, English and Portuguese-speaking IPAs from all over the African continent to get together and to start “thinking regionally” and “thinking Africa”. Many of the challenges that the African countries are facing are very common for Africa and, at the same time, very different from the ones in the other regions. The development of a common strategy is of a crucial importance for the FDI promotion, for the improvement of the business environment and also for fostering trade within Africa.

The main topics discussed in this WAIPA inaugural African Investment Conference were: “African Economic Perspectives in the New World Economic Order and the Impact of the Crisis”, “Regional Integration to Promote Sustainable FDI and Development in Africa” and ““Financial Mechanisms to Promote Africa’s Growth”.

The participants expressed a common concern that the African countries are not welcoming each and every FDI, but only the ones that are sustainable from the point of view of environmental protection, energy efficiency, corporate social responsibility, etc., and also contribute to the economic development of the region, in terms of creation of jobs and values, improvements of infra-structure and local SMEs’ development. In this context, the need of the adoption of an “African Regional Millennium Development Agenda” was emphasized.

The IPAs noted the strategic importance of the regional integration initiatives within WAIPA and AfriPANnet program (coordinated by UNIDO).

The representatives of the International Financial Corporation of the World Bank, the European Union Delegation in Cameroon and the Association of Credit Institutions of Cameroon presented different traditional and innovative financial mechanisms available for the business development in Africa. At the same time, the participants mentioned the necessity of devoting strong efforts to the development of electronic payments and implementation of modern financial instruments, such as letters of credit and stock exchanges. In parallel, the African countries should further implement the anticorruption measures.

The important conclusions of the WAIPA African Investment Conference were contemplated in the Yaoundé Declaration, adopted on April 15th, 2010.