UNCTAD and the World Association of Investment Promotion Agencies (WAIPA) have today named investment promotion agencies (IPAs) from Japan, Peru and Senegal as the best performers in creating online tools for servicing investors.
The top three prizes for "e-investment facilitation" were presented at the WAIPA 2005 World Investment Conference, which has been meeting in Geneva since yesterday. WAIPA has 177 member agencies from 146 countries.
The prize for Best Practice in e-Procedures went to the Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO) for its website www.investjapan.org. In announcing the award, WAIPA President Kai Hammerich said that the Invest in Japan website presents "in a clear, detailed and visual way" the rules and procedures applying to all types of investment operations. The website´s cost simulation flowchart and "model case" are of particular interest, demonstrating how to establish a Japanese branch of a foreign company and the costs that an overseas company can expect to incur when setting up shop in Japan.
The prize for Best Practice in e-Opportunities went to ProInversión from Peru. The ProInversión website (www.proinversion.gob.pe) was singled out for the direct access it offers to "clearly presented and comprehensive" information on investment opportunities in projects and companies that seek foreign investors.
The prize for Runner-up in e-Investment Facilitation went to Senegal´s Agence Nationale Chargée de la Promotion de l´Investissement et des Grands Travaux (APIX) for its website www.apix.sn. Mr. Hammerich praised the APIX website for its attractiveness and called it "very promising", with online services covering all aspects of e-investment facilitation.
Over 250 IPA executives, business leaders and officials of international organizations are participating in this important annual event for investment promoters. The central conference theme this year is investment in services.
In a joint high-level session yesterday with UNCTAD´s Commission on Investment, Technology and Related Financial Issues, which focused on how to attract FDI in service clusters, one of the panelists, Björn-Erik Willoch, Vice-President of Capgemini, mentioned that international outsourcing of "back office-type" services was still a politically sensitive issue, but as jobs moved overseas it should not be considered a loss, as new jobs are created higher up the value chain. It is the task of trade unions, governments and the business community to help the labour force adjust to new opportunities where they present themselves, he said.
In answer to a question on strategies used by developing countries to create service clusters and attract FDI, Ziad Bahaa-El Din, Chairman of the Egyptian General Authority of Investment & Free Zones, said that many countries are too focused on a single model of service clusters. "Not everybody can be an India, China or Dubai", he said, "and we therefore need to broaden our vision. We have to ask ourselves questions like: do we have the elements to be competitive or not? And when we decide to develop a cluster, we need to do so in concert with the private sector". Asked why companies invest in locations with no strong tradition in a specific service, Zafar Siddiqi, Chairman of CNBC Arabiya, replied that he decided to locate his company in Dubai Media City because the Dubai authorities were transparent about where they were, what they had to offer and what they wanted to achieve.
The WAIPA World Investment Conference 2005 is the organization´s tenth annual conference. It closes tomorrow, 11 March.
