Sharjah FDI Office (Invest in Sharjah), the World Association of Investment Promotion Agencies (WAIPA) regional director for MENA, an assoiate of the Sharjah Investment and Development Authority (Shurooq), led a virtual regional members meeting in association with WAIPA. The meet was aimed to evaluate the response of investment promotion agencies (IPAs) in the MENA region in relation to the unprecedented times due to pandemic crisis. Various strategies were also discussed enabling creation of sustainable investment ecosystems for post-Covid-19.

Key speakers at the ‘Beyond the COVID-19 Crisis – Investment Promotion Agencies and the New Normal’ meeting included Mohamed Juma Al Musharrkh - CEO, Invest in Sharjah; the Regional Director of WAIPA Steering Committee for the MENA region, and member of the Steering Committee; Bostjan Skalar - Executive Director and CEO, WAIPA; Beligh Ben Soltane - President, Tunisia Investment Authority (TIA); Abdelbasset Ghanmi - General Manager, Agence de Promotion de l'Investissement Exterieur (FIPA); Haytham Wahidi - CEO, Palestinian Investment Promotion Agency (PIPA); Ms. Amira Murad - Investment Development Authority of Lebanon (IDAL); and Ahmed Omic - Research Analyst, WAIPA.

Al Musharrkh, led the discussions saying ‘Invest In Sharjah’ embraces the learning prospects from regional investment leaders about the different approaches organisations have adopted to overcome challenges due to pandemic. He further said of looking forward to collaborate with the 54 IPAs in the MENA region, including 24 from the Middle East, to overcome the pandemic challenges. Sharjah has created a comprehensive $1.1 billion stimulus program for all businesses, including SMEs and startups. Invest in Sharjah has also been acting as a key advisor to businesses and guiding them on how to utilize stimulus allocations give to them by the government. Furthermore, it has helped businesses renew their licences and registrations remotely, facilitated government approvals, and many more. “I am happy to inform you that despite the current situation, we were able to facilitate 11 new investment projects worth $134 million in the first quarter of 2020,” he said.

Bostjan Skalar, the Executive Director and CEO, WAIPA, said, “This has been a tough phase for investors across the world. However, a survey WAIPA conducted together with the World Bank clearly proves that there were negative trends and drops in FDIs even before Covid-19 struck us. There have been different factors affecting the economies and the pandemic was the last straw. Over 50% of the IPAs that responded to the survey said budgets may be cut because of the economic situation.”

He added, “The main task of WAIPA as an umbrella organization is to support the IPAs, bring their situation to the attention of the World Bank, the International Chamber of Commerce and all UN agencies, who sit on the WAIPA board. The new initiative we are pursuing now is to establish a business advisory committee together with the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) which will work to bring investors close to IPAs which are best suited to help them in such a situation, and work with governments to create a business environment conducive to investment. Our global IPA survey shows that intergovernmental institutions have started to trust WAIPA and its wider network. The WAIPA President has led high-level consultations with top institutions on the importance of IPAs on the global level to push investment for sustainable development. It is important that we work together and share our experiences and challenges arriving at a solution.”

Explaining the WAIPA-World Bank report State of Investment Promotion Agencies: Evidence from WAIPA – WBG’s Joint Global Survey, that had released last month, Ahmed Omic, Research Analyst, WAIPA, said, “The survey is a combination of several previous WBG and WAIPA surveys, and was conducted from July – December 2019. Of the 162 national IPAs we invited, 91 responded, and we found that while 70% of IPAs had clear written multi-year strategies, 24% do not.”

“The top five priority sectors of IPAs are renewable energy; agriculture, fishing and forestry; pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical devices; IT services; and food products and beverages. The biggest challenges affecting IPAs are budget (70%) and human capacity (64%). Responding to the Covid-19 situation, 83% of surveyed IPAs worked remotely, 66% maintained communication with their investors, and 60% succeeded in assisting them resolve their issues,” he added.

In relation to the Tunisian experience, Beligh Ben Soltane, President, Tunisia Investment Authority (TIA), said, “We embraced digital transformation for all our investor services, streamlined and simplified procedures to facilitate the investment journey for local and international investors. It has not been easy. We are more focused on promoting and attracting investment but missing out when it comes to facilitation. We are now focusing more on this aspect.”

Haytham Wahidi, CEO, Palestinian Investment Promotion Agency (PIPA), said that PIPA has tried to develop more communication channels to retain its investors. “However, it has also given us new industries, that are in demand now, to focus on,” he said.

Amira Murad, the Investment Development Authority of Lebanon (IDAL), extended gratitude to Sharjah for its kind and generous aid to help Lebanon boost its economy through Sharjah Entrepreneurship Center (Sheraa)’s #UnitedForBeirut initiative. “We have now shifted focus from attracting investors, to retaining them,” she said. She added, “We have developed targeted plans to assist companies to be ready to export and access new markets outside Lebanon, and are working on an online catalog for exporters, which we will share with our embassies.”