|
UNIDO-Africa IPA Network Launched (Vienna,
20 - 23 November, 2001)  some of the participants in the inaugural meeting of the UNIDO-Africa Investment Promotion Network The UNIDO-Africa Investment Promotion Network was launched on 20-23 November 2001. The Network is comprised of Investment Promotion Agencies (IPAs) from Sub-Saharan African countries with ongoing UNIDO integrated programmes (IPs), UNIDO Investment and Technology Promotion Offices (ITPOs) and an Advisory Panel from the private sector. The Network is a working group that explores practical, low-cost schemes to improve the effectiveness of its member agencies in mobilizing domestic and foreign investment. It is intended to build upon the achievements of the integrated programmes and bring permanence to the partnerships with IPAs established in the course of those programmes. This initiative represents an amalgamation of the investment components of the integrated programmes and its membership will expand with the initiation of new integrated programmes. The Network also functions as a resource group of IPAs who have been working with UNIDO and can provide guidance in the design of UNIDO’s country-level programmes. It is also a permanent platform for training, capacity-building and continuous linkage to UNIDO’s world-wide network of Investment & Technology Promotion Offices (ITPOs). An issue paper on the Design and Development of Low-Cost Promotion Strategies for Investment Promotion In Africa, was presented by Patrick Daly, formerly of the Irish Development Agency (IDA). The paper and discussions pointed out that assistance to African countries in investment promotion by multilateral agencies (MIGA and FIAS of the WB Group, UNCTAD, etc.) relies on the experiences of agencies of developed countries, such as the IDA. The IDA has developed proven methodologies and skills to design and execute promotion strategies. However, agencies such as these have had access to resources and staff that have enabled them to achieve their objectives and influence government policies in manners not feasible for African countries. The UNIDO-Africa IPA Network has addressed the inappropriateness of relying completely on lessons drawn from successful European IPAs to advise African countries because of the differences in their resources. UNIDO’s newly established Network will assist African countries in designing cost-effective activities specific to the African context and expand the range of options open to the IPAs. A publication giving the results of the first pilot-level survey and recommendations on how to develop “low cost promotion strategies” will be ready early next year. The survey has revealed a number of potential ways in which IPAs can influence investment decisions. In addition to regular contact, members of this Network will meet annually. Each meeting will be comprised of three parts: expert group meeting (discussion of issues of common concern leading to recommendations of action programmes for donor funding); capacity-building component (a training package covering: investment project preparation and appraisal, investment promotion techniques and skills, organizational and operational strategies for investment promotion agencies, joint-venture and strategic partnership agreements, technology-transfer operations including agreement formulation, technology needs assessments, integration of technology policy and investment strategies); and an exchange component (to strengthen linkages between IPAs and ITPOs to develop bilateral programmes and country-specific promotion campaigns). As part of the preparations for the inaugural meeting, a pilot survey of foreign investors in four of the participating countries was carried out. The results were presented and discussions focused on how the information could be used at both regional and country levels. The main recommendations of the meeting can be summarized as follows: A regional programme was proposed that gives UNIDO a Global Forum function to publish “forward looking” indicators of investor perceptions and intentions in Africa based on an expanded, systematic survey of foreign investors conducted by UNIDO Representatives on a regular basis (preferably annually) for all member countries. The data on future investment plans would provide decision makers with an indication of the volume of capital flows existing investors are signaling would go into Africa. The indicators, taken collectively, would also shed light on the sectors that attract most of the new investment, as well as on areas of improvement in policy and facilitation that will have the most impact in investor decisions. These indicators would be akin to the Consumer Confidence Index, Survey of Purchasing Managers, or other forward- looking indicators that are closely watched and utilized in economic reports for monetary policy in developed countries. The investment promotion efforts of the integrated programmes in Africa were pulled together into a regional context. If the stated objective of having regular annual meetings is realized, it will bring the desired continuity and permanence to the partnership between national counterparts and UNIDO. Regularized meetings will also incorporate a training programme (under preparation), which will be a UNIDO flagship product and the first of its kind in terms of merging issues of technology transfer and investment promotion. The linkage between ITPOs and national IPAs in IP countries were put into a more programmatic format. This institutionalized linkage will tie the ITPOs more closely to IPs and facilitate the development of long-term bilateral programmes.
Participants agreed that the Network could provide a strong foundation
for the facilitation of investment into African countries. A proposal
for a regional programme to ensure sustainability of the process,
encompassing all of the above elements will be submitted for consideration
before the end of the year. |
