Promoting Foreign Direct Investment in Africa

Promoting Foreign Direct Investment in Africa

Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, April 4, 2000 – Representatives of the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA) today concluded a ten-day tour of East Africa, covering Mauritius, Kenya, Tanzania and Mozambique. This ‘mobile office’ is part of the Agency’s on-going efforts to strengthen client outreach and promote the flow of foreign direct investment into Africa. During the visit, special investment forums were organized in Mauritius and Dar es Salaam, which highlighted the opportunities for cross-border investment in the region, and the availability of political risk insurance and project finance.

Investor interest in East Africa has been growing steadily and MIGA has so far facilitated over $150 million of foreign direct investment and is currently processing guarantee applications in excess of US$750 million in the region. Mr. Roger Pruneau, Vice President of MIGA noted that: "Developing business in Africa is one of our major priorities, and we are pleased that MIGA’s portfolio in Africa continues to grow steadily. We believe that MIGA can play an important role in supporting private sector development, facilitating project finance, and providing political risk insurance and investment marketing services in order to encourage foreign direct investment into Africa. Our target is to have 10 percent of our business volume in Africa."

Senior government officials from the East Africa Community (EAC) expressed appreciation for MIGA’s role in fostering partnerships with the private sector and in assisting investment promotion agencies and promoting global information sharing through the electronic media. Strong requests were made to enhance assistance from the World Bank Group for a number of privatization projects in the region. Tanzania’s Minister of State, Hon. N. Malocho, identified a number of attractive opportunities in the EAC, in particular in agribusiness, mining, tourism, manufacturing and export-processing zones. The business community also requested that MIGA consider a new regional investment fund through local financial intermediaries, which would be primarily aimed at supporting small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

MIGA staff confirmed the Agency’s commitment to be a strong partner in the effort to promote private sector development in Africa, and noted that it is currently reviewing applications for a large mining project in Tanzania, an energy project in Kenya, and a number of projects that would benefit SMEs in Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania. Mr. Pruneau

encouraged the government officials he met to enhance cooperation within the EAC region and to make a special effort to encourage African investors to make cross-border investments within the region.

Contact:
Ms. Moina Varkie, Marketing Manager;
Tel: (202) 473-6170; Fax: (202) 522-2630