Caribbean Export and Business Support Organizations

Enhancing BSO Capacity

investment packages to potential European investors. The mission also allowed the CAIPA members to visit business parks in Europe and garner key contacts for added information. Discussions with the three main agencies responsible for investment facilitation, namely, Forfás, the Industrial Development Authority (IDA) and Enterprise Ireland, increased understanding on how Ireland has been able to distinguish itself in specific growth areas and has focused attention on building local expertise and generating business linkages between foreign and local firms. The visit to Invest in Brussels Agency, Belgium and to Invest in Austria, in Austria, exposed the Caribbean IPAs to the complexity of promoting a diverse region and partnering with independent IPAs within the same country to attract investments for the entire country - lessons that augur well for CAIPA’s partnership with the IPAs in the region for investment facilitation. The other major institutions and sites visited in Belgium included: the Centre for the Development of Enterprise (CDE), EIB, Pro€nvest Management Unit, European Commission (EC), Flanders Trade and Invest (FTI), Wallonia Foreign Trade and Investment Agency (AWEX) and the ACP Secretariat. In Austria the delegation visited: CIMA VIP Business Park, Civitas Nova, Software Park in Hagenberg, Research Institute for Symbolic Computation (RISC) Institute, a Business park in the Rainbach and the Wirtschaftsagentur Wien. CAIPA Mission to Latin America During the period June 25-July 2, 2011, a contingent of 21 Investment Promotion officials from 14 IPAs who are member states of CAIPA visited Brazil and Chile on a best practice study tour of APEX Brazil and PROCHILE. The CAIPA members also had an opportunity to hold discussions with key public and private sector organisations that were critical to the process of facilitating both inward and outward investments in two of the strongest emerging economies in Latin America. This initiative sought to: garner best practices on investment and trade promotions from the IPAs and Trade Promotions Agencies in Latin America; increase the visibility of the Region as an ideal location for investments; and begin the process of developing

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