Heads of IPAs, senior investment promotion practitioners and policy makers from OECD and partner countries will meet in Paris on 22 October 2019 for the fourth Meeting of the OECD IPA Network to share their experiences and discuss good practices on investment promotion and facilitation. Focus topics will include:

• Investment facilitation and aftercare: what national and international measures can be taken by governments to reduce regulatory and administrative obstacles for companies willing to establish or reinvest in a given location?

• FDI benefits: how can governments adopt policies and strategies to maximise the benefits of foreign direct investment on their domestic economy while minimising potential costs?

The Mapping of IPAs in the Middle East and North Africa will be formally launched by the Deputy-Secretary General of the OECD together with high-level representatives from the region and the European Commission at a high-level lunch.

The event will also provide an opportunity for IPAs to conduct focused peer-to-peer exchanges in smaller groups of practitioners:

• IPAs from OECD and selected Latin American countries will discuss policy advocacy and monitoring & evaluation in two break-out sessions.

• The EU-OECD Programme on Promoting Investment in the Mediterranean will hold a follow-up discussion to the launch of their report and a theme-based peer-learning session.

• IPAs of countries included in the OECD Eurasia Competitiveness Programme recently took part in the OECD-IDB Survey of IPAs. They will hold a dedicated session to present and discuss the survey’s preliminary findings.

 WAIPA Executive Director Bostjan Skalar will be sharing his insights in the discussion on investment facilitation and aftercare practices in Eastern Europe, the South Caucasus and Central Asia. Furthermore, he will participate as a panelist in the interactive discussion on the role of investment promotion agencies in spurring innovation. The objective of this session is to share experiences about the role of IPAs in accelerating investment in innovation and bridging the innovation gap in the MED region.