PRONicaragua Wins Seat at WAIPA Steering Committee

    WASHINGTON, DC, June 30, 2010 /24-7PressRelease/ -- PRONicaragua, the official investment promotion agency of Nicaragua, was recently elected as Central America and the Caribbean's Representative to the World Association of Investment Promotion Agencies' (WAIPA) Steering Committee for the 2010-2012 period. The election took place during WAIPA's World Investment Conference 2010 on Tuesday June 29th in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

At the conference, Investment Promotion Agencies (IPAs) from around the world met to select the new Steering Committee members. PRONicaragua was elected as Director for Central America and the Caribbean with 54 percent of the votes, surpassing the Dominican Republic's CEI-RD and Costa Rica's CINDE who were the region's two other candidates.

After the election, Javier Chamorro, PRONicaragua's Executive Director, reaffirmed that the agency's experience and capacity will be of great benefit to both WAIPA and the region, while assuring "PRONicaragua will work diligently to promote technical cooperation and practical collaboration between the region's IPAs in order to share information, knowledge on best practices and experience in the development of dynamic investment attraction systems and tools, which will better position the region as an investment destination."

Chamorro also added: "PRONicaragua's election as Steering Committee representative for the region is a testament to our country's proactive approach to investment attraction and a recognition of our capabilities and practices. Nicaragua is committed to helping lead the region through a more innovative and collaborative approach to investment promotion which will allow us to increase investment inflows to all Central America and the Caribbean."

Since its establishment, PRONicaragua has received numerous recognitions for its practices from independent evaluators, including WAIPA, the World Bank, the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and International Development Ireland (IDI), and for significantly contributing in the placement of Nicaragua as one of the top destinations in the Americas in terms of FDI as a percentage of GDP. The agency has also worked with multilateral institutions such as the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and the World Bank in promoting capacity-building between countries in the region and in developing programs aimed at establishing investment promotion networks and IPAs in different countries.

WAIPA's World Investment Conference 2010 was held under the topic "Sustainable Growth and Investment: Drafting a Plan for Action". The event brought together global leaders, distinguished economists, well recognized opinion-makers, representatives from various think-tanks and the media to debate on financial reform, balancing sustainability and profitability in new business models, and the role of innovation in the quest for sustainable development.

WAIPA was created in 1995. It was established as an Association under Swiss law. It has been registered in Geneva, as a non-governmental organization. By the end of 2009, WAIPA Members include 253 national and sub-national agencies from 162 different countries. Through its wide range of activities, WAIPA provides the opportunity for IPAs to network and exchange best practices in investment promotion and cooperate with each other.

PRONicaragua is the Nicaraguan Investment Promotion Agency, established in 2002. It is a non-profit, public-private institution whose mission is to generate economic growth and job creation in Nicaragua by attracting high-quality foreign direct investment. The agency provides complimentary support services to qualified investors seeking investment opportunities in our country. For further information, please contact us at (505) 2270-6400 or at http://pronicaragua.org.

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