Figures from the IBC BAK International Benchmark Club show how taxation affects the attraction of countries as business locations and, opposite, the Monthly Investment Monitor offers a half-year view of FDI levels.

Professor Helson C Braga examines prospects for South American free zones under the Free Trade Area of the Americas.

Turkey’s finance minister tells Brian Caplen that the government is trying to improve the business climate and instil confidence in investors.

Turkey’s new foreign investment law is important but many more changes will be required to improve the country’s poor record on attracting FDI. This is the view not of a foreign investor but of Turkey’s Finance Minister Kemal Unakitan in an interview with fDi editor Brian Caplen.

Henrique de Campos Meirelles tells Brian Caplen about the factors that affect Brazilian FDI flows and the reforms that should reverse the current slump.

What is the key characteristic for supply chain hubs? Transport? Technology? Geography? Karen E Thuermer looks at what it takes to become a top notch logistics location.

Etisalat’s future is shaped by continued investment in its state-of-the-art telecommunications infrastructure.

Etisalat now proudly takes its place as one of the leading telecommunications companies in the world. The corporation, which started out in 1976 with 33,000 fixed lines in operation, has evolved into a global player.

Although Abu Dhabi made a slow start in selling off its utilities, it has since made up for this with several swift and successful deals – and has more in the pipeline. Brian Caplen reports.

fDi spoke to Salem M. Al-Dhaheri, Undersecretary, Department of Economy and Chair of the Supervision Committee for Industrial Parks, and asked him what Abu Dhabi must do to remain competitive.

new era...

“We are very proud with all that we have achieved in our country in the industrial field. We know that there are more stages needed to achieve our goals. Thus we have decided to establish industrial cities that are well-equipped with infrastructure and required administrative services in order to encourage the industrial investments,” says Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Abu Dhabi’s Crown Prince.

Abu Dhabi is a picture of economic health, in little need of foreign input, but the investment climate could change. Brian Caplen reports on factors affecting the pace of change in the emirate.

Russia’s only true project finance deal to date, Severtek – a joint venture between Lukoil and Finland’s Fortum – stands as a barometer for future deals of this nature.

The Sakhalin Energy project, a massive undertaking to exploit some of the largest undeveloped oil and gas deposits in the world, is the largest single foreign investment into Russia to date.

Superlatives surround the Sakhalin Energy consortium’s project to develop the oil and gas deposits on Russia’s far eastern island: the biggest integrated oil and gas project in the world; the largest single foreign investment into Russia; massive gas deposits; and the most extreme weather conditions imaginable.

Telenor’s gutsy decision to enter the Russian mobile telecoms market brought it unexpected success, says Sophie Roell.

Moscow, 1998. Everyone is leaving town. The rouble has collapsed, the stock market is in a tailspin and the feeling of hopelessness among foreign investors is tangible: this country is never going to get it right.

Enter Telenor, a gutsy Norwegian mobile operator ready to go where others feared to tread (its international portfolio already included GSM licences in Montenegro and Bangladesh). Earlier in the year, it had started negotiations with VimpelCom, a Moscow mobile operator with a New York Stock Exchange listing, which by then was in the midst of a Russian economic crisis and a few problems of its own. As VimpelCom’s share price plummeted from $60 to less than $5, Telenor came to a bold decision: it would proceed with its investment, committing $160m for a stake of just over 25% in the company.

Implementation of the Euro-Mediterranean Free Trade Area has led to Languedoc-Roussillon becoming Europe’s gateway to the rest of the Mediterranean and North Africa.

The region of Languedoc-Roussillon is located at the centre of the Mediterranean arc in south-eastern France. The area’s temperate climate attracts people from all over the world each year, providing a young, diverse and well-trained workforce in the region. This, in turn, attracts multinational corporations to set up extensive operations. Other important attractions for multinationals are the excellent communication and transport infrastructure, valuable business opportunities – including a multitude of public and private laboratories open to partnerships – and business incubators.

Northern Ireland’s knowledge-based economy is attracting global interest.

Arizona is keeping its reputation for pushing into new frontiers as ICT companies and universities collaborate to stimulate innovation.

Business, academic and financial enterprises are feeding off each other’s ideas and expertise in Ontario’s technology triangle, writes Ashleigh Lezard.

How talent and technology are driving England’s knowledge North.

When the prestigious American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) in New York City wanted to revamp its astronomy exhibit, it looked to the stars of virtual reality. It found a centre not in Silicon Valley but in the north of England’s Tees Valley.

The Cambridge ICT cluster has developed largely independently but it has now attracted government backing for an initiative to consolidate the expertise that supports start-ups, Ashleigh Lezard reports.

Proximity to peers is vital for ICT companies’ success which, in turn, strengthens the entire sector in that region. Ashleigh Lezard reports.

Education, a healthy economy and a wealth of natural resources are high on Wyoming Governor David Freudenthal’s list of attractions for investors but, he tells Karen E Thuermer, environment and quality of life are at the top.

David Freudenthal swore for much of his adult life that he would never run for public office. But then came a time when he looked around his home state of Wyoming – often dubbed the “Cowboy State” – and saw that a lot of good could be done. Now state governor, he says: “I thought I could either take a shot or sit around and complain about it. I took a shot and here I am.”

Ministers are having a hard time building investors’ confidence, and the mood is unlikely to improve without regulatory change, says Suzanne Miller.

Afghanistan moved quickly to become a member of the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA) in June following a regime change. The next country to do likewise could be Iraq but Motomichi Ikawa, executive vice-president of MIGA, has stressed that it would have to follow the formal joining process step-by-step.

Senior executives such as David Hampshire, managing director for Africa at Diageo, Edward Bickham, vice-president external affairs at Anglo American, Audrey Mpunzwana, Africa regional head at Standard Chartered Bank, Koosum Kalyan, senior adviser for Shell, and Simon Martin, corporate relations adviser for Unilever, were called on recently to discuss the thorny issue of why Africa receives such a bad press.

Even if your patent is close to expiry, it is worth being vigilant against infringers, as even a short time advantage can be valuable when a market first opens up to competition.

My patent is about to expire. Is there any point in being vigilant about infringement?

The twilight of a pharmaceutical patent can be a time of considerable activity. Firms that manufacture generic products will be seeking marketing authorisations: these will enable them to move into the patentee’s market as soon as the patent expires. Simultaneously, the patentee itself may be looking for an authorisation and patent to cover an improvement to the product, in the hope that the improved product will be capable of maintaining the market lead position. Competitors may also be looking to introduce an improvement as soon as the base patent has expired.

fDi reports on the latest regulatory and trade changes that will affect foreign direct investors.

The newest kid on the location advisory block is Arcadian, formed by three former executives from Deloitte & Touche Business Location Services.

The inter-relationships between national policies and international rules in the area of investment remain on the agenda, despite the developments at the World Trade Organization’s (WTO) ministerial conference in Cancun, Mexico, in September. The reason is that, while countries discussed issues related to a possible investment agreement in the WTO, international rule-making on investment issues accelerated at the bilateral and regional levels – and it is likely to continue, in the context of bilateral investment treaties and bilateral and regional free trade agreements (the number of BITs alone reached almost 2200 at the end of 2002).

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is a significant factor in determining where multinationals do business, according to a survey for the World Bank Group’s CSR practice.

The World Trade Organization’s (WTO) fifth ministerial meeting in Cancun ended just as many sceptics and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) predicted: with hardly anything agreed on and the multilateral trade system taking a battering.

In a strange twist, the figures of the World Investment Report 2002 produced by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) revealed the tiny country of Luxembourg to be the largest recipient of FDI and largest outward investor in 2003. The country was accountable for more than one-third of the EU’s combined inflows and outflows, despite only being accountable for 0.2% of the EU’s GDP.

Muddled thinking by both capitalists and their critics is denying Africa a fair share of FDI and depriving companies of the opportunity of a better rate of return.