Geneva, 3 May 2011 - Agencies from the Dominican Republic, Peru, and Zambia won the 2011 UNCTAD Investment Promotion Awards at a ceremony Monday night.
The three equal awards were presented by UNCTAD Secretary-General Supachai Panitchpakdi and Patricia Francis, Executive Director of the International Trade Centre (ITC). They are given annually, and the focus of this year´s awards was the contribution that investment promotion agencies (IPAs) can make to infrastructure development through the attraction of foreign direct investment (FDI). The presentation came at the end of the first day of UNCTAD´s Investment, Enterprise and Development Commission.
The first equal award was given to the Dominican Republic Export and Investment Centre (CEI-RD) for its role in attracting FDI and servicing investors in infrastructure, particularly a road infrastructure project, of the country to improve access to its remote areas and to support the development of its tourism and other industries.
ProInversión of Peru received the second equal award for promoting and facilitating a public-private partnership (PPP) for the construction, operation, and maintenance of a wastewater treatment plant that will directly benefit millions of people in the country.
The third equal award was given to the Zambia Development Agency for its work with different government entities in the promotion of PPPs and its role in attracting investment for a renewable-energy infrastructure project.
Together with partner organizations, UNCTAD has honored best practices in various fields of investment promotion since 2002. The winners of the UNCTAD Investment Awards 2011 were selected on the basis of a web-based survey, which covered the participating agencies´ support to infrastructure investors, and on the basis of case studies of recent infrastructure projects for which they succeeded in attracting investment.
The awards ceremony followed a high-level session of UNCTAD´s Investment, Enterprise and Development Commission on best practices in strengthening investment in basic infrastructure in developing countries. Session participants discussed the role that FDI can play in filling the gaps that exist between necessary and actual infrastructure investments in many developing economies. UNCTAD presented a set of policy lessons to help countries attract investors and ensure successful long-term outcomes. Among the recommended steps are the creation of a comprehensive legal and regulatory framework for FDI in infrastructure; the development of a "pipeline" of pre-assessed, commercially attractive infrastructure projects; and the establishment of an independent body for project monitoring and competition oversight.
