Vienna Program Launch Supporting West Balkan Investment
MIGA Launches Program in Vienna to Support Investment in the Western Balkans
VIENNA, October 20, 2004—The countries of the Western Balkans, some of which have emerged from recent conflict, are among the best potential investment opportunities available today.
For this reason, the World Bank Group's Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA) has opened-in partnership with the Austrian Government and the Austria's Export Credit Agency "Oesterreichische Kontrollbank" (OeKB)-an office in Vienna to house a European Investor Outreach Program (EIOP).
Foreign aid flows to Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia and Montenegro, and Croatia in the aftermath of regional conflict have begun to slow down. The focus of the World Bank and the EU in their reconstruction efforts in these countries, as well as in Albania and The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, has been on institutional reforms to promote private sector development. These efforts are now paying off and the region is showing increasing readiness to accommodate foreign direct investment.
"We consider this such an important region in terms of private sector development, that we have established this office to provide a local link between investors-primarily from western European countries such as Germany, Austria, and Italy-and investment opportunities in the five Western Balkan countries," said MIGA's Operations Director Tessie San Martin at the launch today at OeKB, where the program will be housed.
OeKB Board Member Rudolf Scholten also welcomed MIGA's decision to establish EIOP in Vienna: "In addition to historical ties, Austria maintains a close and sustainable economic relationship with the area as well." OeKB Board Member Johannes Attems addressed today's launch event.
While the region is increasingly stable, the perception of political risk has been an investment deterrent even though risk mitigation tools are available from both public and private agencies. MIGA, for example, has provided more than $650 million in guarantees for investments in the region in projects in health care, financial services, manufacturing, tourism and infrastructure.
MIGA has also made efforts to support capacity building for the investment promotion agencies in several of these countries and the opening of the new office in Vienna is a testament to the readiness of these agencies to accommodate higher levels of investment. While continuing to train and support these agencies, the EIOP will focus on linking investors with opportunities and being an information source on potential partnerships and financing options, among other things.
The EIOP is being established as a two-and-a-half-year pilot program with financial support from the Austrian Government as well as from MIGA. One of its first activities will be the release in the coming months of a benchmarking study which will provide sector-profiling and the data needed for investors to make site-specific decisions.
For Karl-Heinz Grasser, Austrian Finance Minister, the development of Southeastern Europe depends highly on the progress made by the private sector in these countries. "Austria very much welcomes the support of the region by MIGA. The Vienna office shall be an active contribution to attract higher levels of foreign direct investment to Southeastern Europe." Grasser expressed pleasure that MIGA had chosen Vienna as the location for its new office and thanked everybody involved in setting up the project for their enthusiasm and professionalism.
For information, go to www.eiop.org or contact:
Dermot Coffey
Vienna Facility Manager
European Investor Outreach Program (EIOP)
Strauchgasse 3
A-1014 Vienna, Austria
t. 43 1 535 53 82.2115
f. 43 1 535 53 82.5115
dermot.coffey@eiop.org or info@eiop.org
For media inquiries, contact:
At MIGA, Audrey Liounis, t. 1 (202) 473-1485 or aliounis@worldbank.org
At OeKB, Peter Gumpinger, t. 43 (1) 531 27-2441 or peter.gumpinger@oekb.at