FDI

The latest Ernst & Young Attractiveness Survey, which is widely recognised as the one of the most comprehensive data sets for foreign direct investment across Europe, recently reinforced Scotland’s position as the top region in the UK outside London for foreign direct investment.And while foreign direct investment (FDI) has proved challenging in recent years, Scotland has undoubtedly sharpened its focus on not only maintaining but continuing to build on its reputation as a world class investment location. With a highly-skilled and educated workforce, proximity to European markets, innovative R&D, sophisticated infrastructure, and easy connections to the rest of the world, it’s little wonder Scotland is increasingly viewed as the international partner of choice.

An interview with Tomasz Tykierko, president of Wrocław-based Lower Silesia Agency of Economic Cooperation.

New European Economy: What’s the secret of Lower Silesia’s economic success?

Tomasz Tykierko :In a word – investors. Just look at the international corporations and companies that have settled in Lower Silesia. Among the first in 1995 was the Volvo Group, and today Volvo Poland has two factories – buses and backhoe loaders – service centres and a sales network. Lower Silesia is lucky when it comes to the automotive industry. We managed to convince Toyota Corporation to begin investing in Lower Silesia in 1999. Later, the Volkswagen Group, as well as Bridgestone and Wabco, were attracted by the benefits offered by Lower Silesia. Other companies with a presence in the region include 3M, LG, IBM, PGW, Nokia Siemens Network, Hewlett Packard, Toshiba, and Google.

Our international team supports all international players in developing and successfully implementing their business plans in Vienna.Vienna stands for tradition and centuries-old culture. For the fifth time in a row, employees of international companies from 223 countries worldwide have selected Vienna as the city with the highest quality of life. Vienna is safe and economically stable!

However, the city is much more than that.

Think Nevis, the beautiful, serene island and you immediately think 5-star luxurious Caribbean holidays, sunshine, beaches, beautiful scenery and utter relaxation. While all of these observations still stand, the time is right to add investment opportunities and business success to the list.

The Lebanese landscape for outsourcing has been evolving over the last decade and now encompasses a broad range of activities in call center operations, IT outsourcing, and various back office operations. Different regional and multinational companies are now choosing Beirut as their base location to serve the Middle East region; these include enterprises like Samsung, Toshiba, Orange Telecom, Nestle, and others. Several advantages allow Lebanon to offer excellent outsourcing services and compete at the international level.

Could there really be an end in sight for the never-ending Greek recession? Prime Minister Antonis Samaras certainly thinks so. By announcing that “2014 will be the year of recovery for the Greek economy”, he has sought to reassure citizens that the country’s ongoing recession will not reach a seventh year.

Pictured:Minister Antonis Samaras

Amid a backdrop of unpopular austerity measures, resulting in widespread social unrest, what is fuelling this remarkable optimism? Firstly, recent figures indicate that the Greek economy shrank by 3.8% in the second quarter, an improvement on the initial estimate of 4.6%, thus boosting forecasts, figures and fervour. Secondly, a record rise in tourism has made a huge dent in the downturn, injecting the necessary euros into a wilting economy.

There is little doubt that while the good ship Europe lurches through the stormy waters of discontent, Germany is the anchor keeping it steady and afloat.

‘Made in Germany’ is a global benchmark for efficiency, quality and stability at affordable prices. The moderately-paid, well-educated, internationally astute and frequently multi-lingual employee base, backed up by a cutting edge infrastructure, makes the country a shining prospect for foreign direct investment to start with. Throw in the Mittelstand, a vast number of small-to-medium enterprises (499 employees or under) which constitutes 99.6% of all German companies and employs 60.2% of all Germany’s social insurance-contributing employees and which is producing innovation in all sectors of industry at an extraordinary rate, and you have all the ingredients in the recipe for success.

South Africa on the Global Stage
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has forecast that South Africa is set to grow by 2.8% in 2013 and 3.3% in 2014. This growth is seen as part of the phenomenal growth projected for Sub-Saharan Africa, set at 5.6% in 2013 and expected to reach 6.1% in 2014.

The main driver of next year’s 6.1% growth in Sub-Saharan Africa, the IMF says, is expected to be the strengthening of activity in South Africa and other middle-income countries, predicated on improvements in the external environment, such as stability in the Euro zone.