WAIPA Annual Report 2011

Supachai
Panitchpakdi
Secretary-General of
the UNCTAD
Dear WAIPA members,
In 2012, the recovery of FDI
flows has been challenged by
the sovereign debt crisis in
Europe, and by a slowdown
of growth in major emerging
market economies. In the first
half of this year, the global FDI
inflows showed a decline of 8
percent compared to the same
period in 2011.
While competition for the
reduced number of FDI projects
is on the increase, austerity
measures in a large number
of countries have started
affecting the operations of
investment promotion agencies
(IPAs), resulting in IPAs being
asked to do more with less.
At the same time, and maybe
related to that, there is an
increased willingness and desire
among IPAs to cooperate and
exchange experiences on new
developments and challenges.
The changing landscape of
investment and trade, with the
emergence of global value
chains (GVCs), is one of the
challenges that IPAs face. In
this particular area, UNCTAD
has recently participated in a
G20 initiative where trade and
investment promotion agencies
were seeking for cooperation
to better understand the
issues and opportunities that
are emerging from GVCs.
In order to spur national
development, the inclusion of
domestic companies in GVCs
is considered to be critical, and
it is recognized that IPAs could
play a role in assisting these
companies to connect to GVCs
and world markets.
With the increasingly relevant
role played by private
investments in economic growth
and development, including
WAIPA Report of Activities 2011-2012
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