IMPORTANT NOTICE TO MEMBERS

Waipa 2010 Membership Fees

Calendar Year 2010 Onwards

At the occasion of the XIV WAIPA World Investment Conference, held in Milan, Italy, a new schedule of membership fees was approved in General Assembly. Below is a summary of the new fee structure:

MEMBERS

From January 1st, 2010 onwards these are the membership dues – based on per capita GDP of the country of origin of the IPA:

Tier I Country Membership Fee of 2,500 USD
Applies to IPA Members (National or Sub-National) from countries with a GDP Per Capita up to 2, 500 U.S. Dollars;
Tier II Country Membership Fee of 3,000 USD
Applies to IPA Members (National or Sub-National) from countries with a GDP Per Capita from 2, 500 up to 12,500 U.S. Dollars;
Tier III Country Membership Fee of 3,500 USD
Applies to IPA Members (National or Sub-National) from countries with a GDP Per Capita over 12,500 U.S. Dollars.

ASSOCIATED MEMBERS

Associated Members’ annual fee was set at 3,500 USD

The membership fees approved above are part of the WAIPA Statutes in effect as of January 1st, 2010. Article V of the WAIPA Statutes provides that payment should be received by April 30 of each calendar year.

Kindly bringing this to the attention of those, within your Agency, responsible for accounts payable.

In case further clarification is needed, please do not hesitate to contact Ms. Zofia Witkowska at the Geneva headquarters of WAIPA either by e-mail or telephone number +41 22 797 2663.

Please click here to download the spread sheet for the tiers

UPCOMING EVENTS

WAIPA EVENTS

In the next coming months, it is anticipated that three more WAIPA Regional Chapters will be organizing and hosting a meeting for IPAs from within their regions. Among those regional meetings now being planned – in expected time order –- are the 1st Regional Meeting for MENA IPAs (date still to be confirmed); the 1st Regional Meeting for Oceania IPAs (date confirmed) and the 1st Regional Meeting for African IPAs (date confirmed). A 1st Regional Meeting for Europe (an effort to be undertaken under the joint responsibility of Invest in Spain and ITD) is also in the works. While the main attendance, and the limited sponsorship available, of these regional meeting is expected to come from the targeted region, it is strongly encouraged that IPA officers from outside of the focus geographic area attempt to participate as well. At last, it is important to note that certain directorships have already organized or hosted a WAIPA regional meeting or another WAIPA event. In this respect, the Directorships of ProsperAr, for South America, and Japti, of Slovenia, should be congratulated for successfully hosting at least two events each for the benefit of their regions.

The Dubai Foreign Investment Office with the support of the Department of Economic Development of Dubai is dilligently working to put together an event either in late February or early March for the benefit of WAIPA Member IPAs from the Middle East and North Africa.Please visit www.dubaided.gov.ae for updates. A separate e-mail flash should confirm dates and provide a preliminary programme.

Oceania – Building a Sustainable Investment Promotion Strategy for Small Economies

As the world emerges from the global economic crisis, this particular WAIPA event should prove an important forum for the discussion of how recent changes in the international investment system relate to small economies. This important event will bring together a global panel of senior government officials, international leaders, investment promotion agencies and key influencers from academia. A series of stimulating, interactive panel discussions should follow the traditional New Zealand welcome. The interactive programme promises to provide a stimulating debate, key themes will include:

The WAIPA Regional Meeting for Oceania 2010 is being hosted by the WAIPA Directorship for Oceania, held by Investment New Zealand, and the organization of this important forum is being closely coordinated between NZTI and Austrade, the Australian Trade Commission. Costs for travel and accommodation are generally covered by participants or their employers. A limited number of sponsorships may be made available as a training session may be included as part of the final programme. Sponsorship funds deriving from a contribution from the Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA).The training portion of the WAIPA Oceania event is now being discussed between the joint organizers, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (Unctad) and the Permanent Secretariat of WAIPA.

For available sponsorship information and to check if you qualify, please contact Unctad - at your earliest convenience – at natalia.guerra@unctad.org or +41 22 917 5651. For registration, please visit www.investmentnz.govt.nz/waipa . For other arrangements or information, please contact The Conference Company at waipa@tcc.co.nz or +649 360 1240.

This first WAIPA Regional Meeting for African IPAs will usher in a series of other activities and events focusing on sub-saharan Africa. The event is being hosted by the WAIPA Directorship for Africa held by C.G.C.I. (Cellule Gestion du Code d’Investissement). An organizing committee has been established comprising the Tanzania Investment Center (T.I.C), Zanzibar Investment Promotion Agency (ZIPA), the Kenya Investment Authority (K.I.A), Centre de Promotion des Investissements du Bénin (C.P.I.B) – Bénin and TISA, Trade and Investment South Africa. The committee will be working in close coordination with the WAIPA Permanent Secretariat to make this event a reality. Please visit the WAIPA website for a preliminary programme to soon be made available.

Accomodation costs and travel arrangements within Cameroon are being provided for to those participants that commit. It is important that the Member IPA be update with their membership dues in order to benefit from the limited sponsorship funds available. To check if your IPA membership is current, please contact Ms. Zofia Witkowska at zofia.witkowska@waipa.org or through the telephone +41 22 797 2663. Flights and travel expenses from the country of origin to Cameroon, as well as travel arrangements are a responsibility of the participant and his/her employer. For preliminary information please contact yaounde@waipa.org.

NON WAIPA EVENTS

More than 20 African countries are expected to come together at this forum organized in Accra by the Common Wealth Business Forum. Among topics of discussion are the role of the private sector in the food segment, mobilization of financial resources and technical expertice and linkages between small holder production and large scale commercial farming.

For information please contact shivani.desai@cbcglobal.org or call +44 (0) 20 7024 8201.

New Zealand and Australia have weathered the global financial crisis remarkably well and are “open for business”. Hosted by New Zealand Trade and Enterprise and supported by Austrade, in conjunction with the WAIPA Regional Meeting for Oceania, this results-focused conference will provide attendants with first mover advantage when it comes to exploring the exciting investment opportunities both countries have to offer.

Sponsored by the Central Bank of Bahrain and Raqaba for Islamic Financial Consultation, this event provides an opportunity to exchange ideas with Islamic banking specialists and listen to various viewpoints concerning prevailing Islamic financing issues. Key topics to be covered include; liquidity and risk management in Islamic banking, recover and assignment of contracts and the effects of the current economic crisis on Islamic banking.

For further information, please e-mail murshed@alkharaza.com or visit the website www.wirrmc.com. For other arrangements please contact Mr. Murshed Zubaid at +965 9985 6486.

This event is advertised as a unique platform for investors who look forward to invesing in the Emirate, as well as for those developers who wish to attract investors into their projects in the region.

Report on Past Events

In the last three months of 2009, three important WAIPA events were accomplished:

With the assistance of JAPTI, of Slovenia, a 1st WAIPA Focus Forum on Investment Incentives took place in Ljubljana, on the 23rd and 24th of November. IPAs from Eastern Europe shared their experience and investment incentive systems and Professor Thomas Kenneth, of the University of Missouri, Sebastien James, of ICAS, at the World Bank as well as Dr. Henry Lowendahl each covered the themes from very interesting and different perspectives.

Certain of the presentation will be uploaded on to the WAIPA website. Upon request. you may obtain those already available by contacting Ms. Kaja Kastner at Kaja.Kastner@japti.si or at +386 1 530 9834.

Under the responsibility of Prosperar, Argentina, yet another Regional Meeting for South America was carried out on the 2nd and 3rd of December, in Buenos Aires. In the framework of the Regional Meeting, the United Nations Conference for Trade and Development ran its 2nd Capacity Building Workshop for the region’s IPAs dedicated to "Investor Targeting in the Services Sector". ProsperAr brought shared its experience in the attraction of services sharing based FDI. Presentations by conultants related to an expansion of Citroen related services in Argentina, DHL and other IT and software related initiatives within Argentina and in neighboring countries was show-cased. Innovative ideas as to targeting specific groups, in tourism, were also exposed. Other initiatives of the WAIPA South American chapter were launched and are being revised as part of the activities of this regional chapter. Please refer to the publication of a guide, Why South America – a key destination for investments prepared under the WAIPA Seal, the promotion of the region as a whole.

Under the responsibility of Pro-Mexico this first WAIPA Regional Meeting of North American IPAs brought together sub-national IPAs from within Mexico and made a first stride towards U.S. based IPAs and IDOs, which is a novelty within WAIPA. Agencies and organizations from the states of Missouri, Florida (i.e.Florida Enterprise) and Georgia were among those present. More efforts to establish a closer cooperation and perhaps memberships from within Mexico (the Sub-nationals), the U.S. and Canada are expected from the WAIPA Directorship from North America. The program emphasized After Care mechanisms and also provided a view of the competitive environment now faced in FDI. Dr. Barbara Samuels, of the ClearHounsing for Finance Development, of New York. New York based Katerina Sokolova, of OCO Consulting provided insight into the competitive strains now facing IPAs and led a very hands-on, very practical “How To” training on how to conduct a telephone campaign aimed at prospective foreign investors.

Certain of the presentations made will soon be uploaded on to the WAIPA website. Upon request. hoever, you may obtain those materials we have been authorized to disseminate, by contacting Ms. Ada Solares, at Pro-Mexico through the e-mail ada.solares@promexico.gob.mx or at +52 55 54 47 7000 Ext. 1337.

Publications and Others

In 2009, the South American Chapter for WAIPA produced the guide Why South America, a Key Destination for Investments. It has been underline, by the WAIPA Directorship for South America. This is a trend the WAIPA Permanent Secretariat has identified: that besides highlighting the benefits of one particular country, it is often interesting to also come up with investment guides and other promotion materials for a region as a whole. The Permanent Secretariat is aware that this attitude has been gaining strength. It is important to know when to compete, and when to cooperate, for the collective benefit of the geographical region as a whole.

A similar effort, to come out with a Why Europe Guide, under the WAIPA Seal, has been the objet of discussions between the WAIPA Directorship for the EU, held by InvestinSpain, along with Invest in Germany and Invest in France Agency. The effort should be based likely based on the already European Attractiveness ScoreBoard. Ms. Anne Neumann of German Trade & Invest and Mr. Oscar Alvarez, of Invest in Spain should be leading this important endeavor to be later published under the WAIPA Seal.

The WAIPA Permanent Secretariat encourages other regional chapters to considering launching a similar initiative. It is our view that this does not exclude or conflict with an individual countries’ individual efforts to promote itself, rather, it is our feeling that those initiatives are indeed complementary.

Would you like to host a WAIPA Event?

The WAIPA Permanent Secretariat wishes to identify MEMBER IPAs to jointly organize and host either (i) a shorter, simpler - yet valuable event - such as a WAIPA Focus Forum (Please read about the Ljubljana event of last November) or other training or experience sharing events (please refer to the 3rd Regional Meeting for South American IPAs and the 2nd Capacity Building Workshop made in collaboration with Unctad of last December, in Buenos Aires, or (ii)a longer - somewhat more challenging event - such as a WAIPA Regional Investment Conference, such as the RIC07, sponsored and hosted by GAFI, in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, or, more recently, the RIC08, sponsored and hosted by ApexBrasil, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

As WAIPA currently has several Regional Meetings in the works, the Permanent Secretariat would only be considering applications for events taking place early next semester.

In order to be considered a WAIPA Only event (i.e. to get the WAIPA Seal) coordination with the WAIPA Permanent Secretariat and/or with those seconded to the WAIPA Secretariat to assistance with logistics and other aspects must be willingly established.

Guidelines applicable to a WAIPA Regional Investment Conference are similar to those of a annual WAIPA World Investment Conference, with the only difference that World Investment Conferences need to add an extra day (or afternoon) - prior to the Conference itself - to be dedicated to institutional matters of WAIPA (i.e. the WAIPA General Assembly).

Applications for the World Investment Conference itself, are still being considered. Please refer to our homepage for General Guidelines for WAIPA RICs and WICS.