The World Association of Investment Promotion Agencies (WAIPA) is holding its Fifth Annual Conference in Bangkok, Thailand, from 9 to 11 February 2000. This year the conference, which is the biggest international gathering of senior investment promotion officials, will address issues expected to dominate the agenda of executives of investment promotion agencies (IPAs) in the decades to come. With foreign direct investment (FDI) a key factor in economic development in most countries, many Governments are giving high priority to its promotion and facilitation. WAIPA — which grew from a membership of 45 agencies in 1995 to 105 this year — helps its members to improve their investment promotion practices and to expand their network with other institutions and international businesses.
H.E. Mr. Abhisit Vejjajiva, Minister of the Office of the Prime Minister of Thailand, will open the conference. It will begin with an anniversary session in which successful IPAs from different parts of the world will present their views on the challenges ahead and possible investment promotion strategies for the twenty-first century. This session will be followed by a panel discussion in which business leaders in the Asian region will give their perspective on the role of IPAs in the new century.
The conference will pay special attention to Asia. On the first day, investment promotion officials from the countries in the Greater Mekong subregion will present their joint programme for promoting the subregion to investors. The conference will also highlight the case of Thailand and its programmes on economic development and investment promotion. Visits to an industrial estate near Bangkok and to the BOI Fair 2000 being staged by the Thai Board of Investment are included in the programme as well.
The second day of the conference will be devoted to the work of international organizations dealing with investment promotion. The European Union; the Foreign Investment Advisory Service (FIAS) and the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA) of the World Bank Group; UNCTAD and the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) will make presentations. These will include demonstrations of Internet-based tools to market countries and attract foreign investors, as well as presentations on the role of IPAs, with the results of a recent UNCTAD survey of more than 100 IPAs. The same day, the Deputy Prime Minister of Ireland, Ms. Mary Harney, will address the gathering. The Irish Government is one of the major sponsors of WAIPA and in 1999 financed several training activities for officials from African and Asian IPAs. Mr. Rubens Ricupero, Secretary-General of UNCTAD, will welcome participants in the WAIPA event to the tenth session of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development — UNCTAD X — which opens on 12 February and continues through 19 February. UNCTAD has hosted the WAIPA secretariat since its inception in 1995.
The WAIPA V Conference is organized by WAIPA in cooperation with the Board of Investment of Thailand and UNCTAD. This year´s meeting, which will be held at the United Nations Building in Bangkok, has been deliberately scheduled before UNCTAD X, so as to allow participants to attend both events.
