In its 26th year and alongside its main panel, the World Investment conference which is a platform for the investment promotion Community provides for the first time a tremendous opportunity for valued speakers from the industry, IPAs, Startups, International organizations and more to share their thoughts and impart their experiences with the entire FDI world under the title ” WIC TALKS”.
The WIC Talks feature the inspirational talks from more than 17 invited esteemed speakers, who had the freedom to choose a topic that is related to their expertise and present it in 10 minutes. The Talks were streamlined live during the conference on the WAIPA website and social media channels.
From IPAs, we are delighted to have Mr. Bogdan Bogdanov, Executive Director of Invest Bulgaria Agency who spoke about How Bulgaria put its strategic factors inside the Agency and externally to attract FDI with focus on a specific plan and vision for each single investor and each sector. And moving from the national level to the local one we had Mrs. Rositsa Raykova, Head of Investment Department of the Municipality of Stara Zagora – Bulgaria talked about the opportunities to invest in Stara Zagora. Moreover, Mr. Zaher Al Qatrneh, Secretary General, Ministry of Investment – Jordon tackled the reasons and opportunities to invest in Jordon and the new procedures had taken by the Jordon government to attract more invetments. In addition to Mr. Lokman Hossain Miah, Executive Chairman, Bangladesh investment Development Authority (BIDA) who talked about the Investment promotion and Ecosystem.
Additionally, Mr. Grzegorz Slomkowski, Member of Board, Polish Investment and Trade Agency (PAIH) who addressed the Investments in Poland in the new geopolitical Reality. Also, Mrs.Nangula Uaandja, CEO of Namibia Investment Promotion and Development Board gave a speech about the Investment Opportunities in Namibia. Mrs. Angela Musgrove, CEO Invest Turks and Caicos, explained the investment climate in Turks and Caicos Islands, As well we had also Mrs. Vansa Bandak, Investment Manager – Invest in El -Salvador who gave a brief on the investment opportunities in El Salvador and how its investment climate becomes more friendly. And on the regional level, we were delighted to have Mr. Leo Naut, Deputy Executive Director, Caribbean Export Development Agency which is responsible to provide innovative, targeted initiatives designed to enhance Caribbean business growth, sustainability and job creation and he stressed in his speech on how partnerships reflects in growth rates and he talked about the Joint investment promotion at Haiti-Dominican Republic Borderzone.
From International Institutions, we are pleased to have Mr. Tamer Tandogan, Promotion Division Department of Digitalization and Technology – UNIDO who described the Digital transformation scene nowadays, Moreover Mr. Andreas Dressler, Managing Director from FDI Center focused on the power of people in investment attraction and why IPAs should have the right persons on board because the investment decision of where to invest not made by Companies but by people within those companies who have their own perceptions towards other people and
other countries that may affect their decisions. As Data is very important for both sides IPAs and investor, we appreciate the presence of Mrs. Sarah Russis, Head of Global sales, Financial times who explained the hidden linkage between IPAs and investor and she affirms that without robust, interactive and up to date information on their website, IPAs are losing leads without even knowing it. Also the WICTALKS enriched by the speech delivered from Mr. Henry Leowendahl, Group CEO Wavteq about the redefining of FDI and how the changes in approaches to economic development and in the ways that companies expand oversees were done due to structural changes that taking place and affect investment promotion as for example the Rapid growth of technology. And From environmental ecosystem perspective we had Mrs. Shannon Olsson, Global Director, The Echo Network, she affirmed on the effectiveness of bringing private sector and public sector together to use science to create collective goals for human and environmental ecosystem in India and explained how trust, responsibility and value help in achieving SDGs. Also Mrs. Jenny Chase, Head of Solar Analysis, BloombergNEF which is a provider of research and analysis on the trends driving the transition to a lower- carbon economy, where she addressed the strategies for a clearer more competitive future.
Furthermore, the Private Sector is also well presented in WICTALKS, Mr. Gerhard Adam, Food Value Chain Manager – Bayer addressed how partnerships can strengthen food security and climate change resilience in rural communities. Moreover, WAIPA did not neglect the role of Startups in achieving sustainable investments, and give it a care consideration during the Conference and also in WICTALK with the representation of Mr. David Akinin, CEO & Founder of JABU who explained how Digital Solution powers thousands of small African retailers.
On the other side, WICTALKS also give the opportunity to the speakers who could not participate in person and allow them to share their speeches and present it as a recorded video during WICTALKS session, so we were delighted to have Mr. Pankaj Patel, member of board of governors, Zydus Lifesciences and Mr. Anish Shah MD&CEO Mahindra group as they talked about the procedures the Indian government took to overcome the pandemic.