The Second Meeting of AfrIPANet was held during the week of the Tenth Session of the UNIDO General Conference,1-5 December 2003 in Vienna. One of the Conference Round Tables (Round Table No. 5) was on Promoting Investment in Developing Countries (with special reference to Africa): Challenges, Opportunities and Experiences. Invited speakers were discussing the dynamics of FDI, how it relates to increasing industrialization and reduction of poverty, the marginalization of Africa from FDI flows, the rationale and motivations of FDI, how to exploit those motivations for channeling investment resources into developing economies and how to maximize the positive externalities of FDI and minimize the negative. The full AfrIPANet Meeting II Programme is accessible here.

The participants of the AfrIPAnet II Meeting were:

• Investment Promotion Agencies (IPAs) and UNIDO Investment and Technology Promotion Offices (ITPOs)
• Academic researchers and supporting research institutions,
• Foreign companies from different sectors and host countries,
• Related International Institutions and Organizations.

UNIDO also invited representatives from the private sector, in particular international companies with broad experiences in Africa, as members of the Advisory Panel to participate in the deliberations and convey the international investors' perspectives. For a detailed list of participants please click here.

The main conclusions of the 2003 Survey Report analyzing the responses of over 800 respondents in 10 Sub-Saharan African countries (Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Kenya, Madagascar, Nigeria, Senegal, Tanzania, Uganda, Mozambique) were presented during the Meeting. Both files are downloadable:

• Full Africa Foreign Investors Survey Report 2003 in English (PDF, 121 pages/930KB) or French (PDF, 123 pages, 1015KB)
• UNIDO AfrIPANet Presentation of the main 2003 Survey Results (PDF, 59 pages, 474KB)

The main conclusions extracted from the results of that survey could be summed up as follows:

• The 800 respondents in the survey intended to invest about $3 billion over the next three years and indicated the services they require from IPAs to convert these intentions into reality. The information what they require in terms of support and services were submitted to each IPA for their respective follow up.

  Round table's implication:
  Design and implement a targeted after-care service to convert these existing investors into "new" investors and design promotion campaigns around the testimonials of those who reinvest.

• Enterprises in different industrial sub sectors as well as different types of investors have different impacts on the economy and have different requirements in terms of the factors most important to their investment location decisions.

  Round table's implication:
  Countries need to prioritize their target sectors and investor groups according to the impact they seek and prioritize their services for investors according to the decision factors of highest importance to companies in those sectors - thereby craft a dynamic investment promotion strategy.

• An important conclusion of the survey points to the important role of an IPA as an investment climate ‘watchdog’. General investment climate conditions, such as political and economic stability, transparency and legal framework were consistently selected as the most important location factors when selecting a location in sub-Saharan Africa. Countries that are most successful in ‘getting their basics right’ will be most attractive to these foreign investors.

  Round table’s implication:
  Policy advocacy is crucial and should be a key function within each IPA.

• Companies that had the opportunity to contact IPAs early in their investment process generally found the services given by IPAs in pre-decision information and post-decision support useful. But the early contact was also instrumental in building a more continuous partnership between company and IPA and lead to a broader utilization of IPA services. The respondents generally found IPA professionals competent.

  Round table's implication:
  IPAs should network with other national institutions and government departments to harmonize the messages and services offered to incoming investors and to play a coordinating function in delivering a broad range of services.

 

Please find below a selection of papers of the Second AfrIPANet Meeting for your easy download:

• UNIDO Secretariat Position Paper, Promoting Investment in Developing Countries (with Special reference to Africa): Challenges, Opportunities and experience (PDF, 12 pages/186KB)
• UNIDO Secretariat Round Table Issue Paper, Promoting Investment in Developing Countries (with Special reference to Africa): Challenges, Opportunities and experience (PDF, 13 pages/269KB)
• Keynote Speech, FDI and Growth for Developing Countries: MNEs and the Challenges of the "New" Economy, Peter Buckley, Professor of International Business, University of Leeds, U.K. - Keynote Speech (PDF, 14 pages/276KB) and Presentation (PDF, 11pages/57KB)
• Round Table Opening Statement, Mr. Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, President of Uganda (PDF, 2 pages/138KB)
• Speech of Mr. Carlos da Silva, Director of Operations for International Business Machines (IBM), Central and Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa region (PDF, 2 pages/122KB)
• Presentation of Mr. Bunmi Oni, Managing Director and Chief Executive of Cadbury Nigeria plc., Presentation (PDF, 14 pages/169KB) and Transcript of speech (PDF, 3 pages/126KB)
• Presentation of Mr. Patrick Helson, Chief Operating Officer of CDC Capital Partners Africa Region, Presentation (PDF, 15 pages/231KB) and Transcript of speech (PDF, 4 pages/203KB)
• Presentation of Mr. Dick Kramer, Chairman of Capital Alliance Nigeria (PDF, 2 pages/121KB)
• Presentation of Ms. Maggie Kigozi, Executive Director of Uganda Investment Authority (PDF, 2 pages/126KB)