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World Bank building

MIGA’s goal is to promote foreign direct investment into developing countries to support economic growth and more.

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Hands husking peas into a basket full of peas

Learn about the progress MIGA is making in its mission to support economic growth, reduce poverty and improve people’s lives.

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Explore different types of political risk insurance guarantees provided to investors and lenders.

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Press Release

MIGA Launches Next-Generation Investment Information Service

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MIGA Launches Next-Generation Investment Information Service:  FDI XChange puts spotlight on emerging economies

WASHINGTON, DC, April 2, 2002 — The Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA), a member of the World Bank Group, lifted its investment marketing services up a notch today with the launch of FDI Xchange, a unique tool that links investors with real-time information on investment opportunities and market analysis in emerging economies.

Foreign direct investment (FDI), a key engine of economic growth, accounts for about four times the amount of official development assistance, yet the lion's share goes to just a handful of countries. MIGA, a leader when it comes to innovative web services, developed FDI Xchange as part of its efforts to ensure that FDI is distributed more evenly among those countries that need it most.

"FDI Xchange will provide developing countries with the help they need to get the word out about investment opportunities, while supporting informed investment decisionmaking," says MIGA's Executive Vice President Motomichi Ikawa.

FDI Xchange (www.fdixchange.com) is a web- and email-based service that provides investors, advisors, and financial institutions with customized investment information in a single, free package. Periodic email updates-tailored to match the user's country, topic, and sectoral interests-contain timely business information from emerging markets worldwide. Users can also access a web-based archive of information.

Through FDI Xchange, content providers disseminate information on new investment incentives, changes in the legal environment for foreign investment, industry sector analysis and market research-as well as specific investment opportunities arising from privatization and government initiatives.

The personalized email updates deliver information from a number of public and private sources, providing links to:

    • Full text of the information on the content provider's website, as well as details on the source.
    • An online response form that goes directly to the content provider for follow up.
    • Other relevant country and sector information resources-such as "doing business" guides, investment laws and sector analysis-available through MIGA's existing investment information services.
    • Bilateral and multilateral sources of financing and risk management services available to support investments, including briefs on investment guarantees already underwritten in that region by MIGA.

"Businesses face many uncertainties when considering new investments," says John Wille, program manager of MIGA's online investment information services. "Our goal with FDI Xchange is to help remove some of those uncertainties by providing the information needed to make an informed investment decision-all in one place, all for free." This in turn will play a pivotal role in getting investment into the areas that need it most."

Cooperation agreements with a range of public and private sector organizations, including investment promotion agencies, privatization agencies, and business information providers, form the backbone for mobilizing relevant content. MIGA has signed up 20 content providers so far, and is aiming for another 15 by July of this year.

The agency's developing member countries benefit from the service by receiving an easy-to-use tool to reach potential investors who would otherwise be expensive and time-consuming to target. "FDI Xchange will assist us in marketing the Serbian privatization program and help us reach out more effectively to foreign investors," says Steven Vujasinovic, head of public relations for the Serbian Privatization Agency. Yugoslavia recorded FDI inflows of just $29 million in 2000.

Investors stand to benefit too. "This new service will provide an excellent new tool for investors," says Winfried Braumann, CEO of Austria's finance and guarantee corporation (FGG). "Improved access to market information is crucial for any business, in particular in emerging markets. FDI Xchange will help companies stay on top of important developments in target markets, in addition to providing them with instant alerts on new opportunities that arise."

"FDI Xchange addresses one of the major challenges to attracting investment into the developing world, which is getting relevant information into the right hands," Ikawa says. "This new service provides government and private sector investment intermediaries with a powerful yet simple, low-cost communication tool through which they can extend their marketing reach and deliver a tailored message to prospective foreign investors."

The development of the FDI Xchange was supported by the Austrian Government (through Finanzierungsgarantie-Gesellschaft, or FGG), the World Bank-supported Development Gateway Foundation, and the Government of Japan. The service is being tapped as an important component of the FDI portion of the Gateway, a portal website on development issues.

MIGA also operates the Investment Promotion Network, a portal website for the international investment community, and PrivatizationLink, which provides information on upcoming privatization sales in developing countries, along with related legal and procedural information. These online services, established in the mid-1990s, currently catalog over 11,000 investment information resources from the World Bank Group, International Monetary Fund, and more than 600 other public and private sources.

For information:
Stephan Dreyhaupt, sdreyhaupt@worldbank.org,
t. 202.458.2943
Angela Gentile, agentile@worldbank.org,
t. 202.473.3509

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