World Bank ranks PRONicaragua among the best investment promotion agencies in the world

Managua, NIC, July 22nd, 2009

PRONicaragua, the official investment promotion agency of Nicaragua, was recently ranked as one of the best agencies of its kind by the 2009 Global Investment Promotion Benchmarking (GIPB) conducted by the Foreign Investment Advisory Service (FIAS) of the World Bank. The study was carried out between March and September of 2008 and included 213 investment promotion intermediaries (IPI) from 181 countries and 32 sub national regions.

The GIPB evaluates the capacity of IPIs in terms of satisfying the need for information of foreign investors by analyzing two factors: first, the institution’s capacity in assisting companies interested in investing by offering information about the country and its economic sectors and giving adequate follow-up to the project; and second, the quality and availability of information found on the Internet.

The study ranked PRONicaragua in the 11th position worldwide in overall performance compared to other national agencies and 18th when also including sub national agencies. The study described Nicaragua as one of the new countries to enter the category of high performance IPI, and also highlights that the country’s online information facilitation services are at par with the world’s best IPI.

The GIPB also reveals that within the Latin American region, Central American IPIs are the ones showing the greatest progress since 2006 in terms of customer service and highlights Nicaragua, Guatemala and El Salvador for operating with limited government resources. “Indeed, the 2009 GIPB shows that a nation’s wealth is not a strong determinant of excellence in investment promotion. Many middle‐income countries, such as Nicaragua, performed very well, often on very tight budgets”, commented Celia Ortega Sotes, Investment Promotion Officer of FIAS.

An official press release distributed by the World Bank recognizes the excellent work PRONicaragua achieved in the attraction of Sitel, a world renowned contact center operator, when the company was evaluating the possibility of investing in the region. The facilitation of key information on behalf of PRONicaragua contributed significantly in Sitel’s decision to select Nicaragua as the investment destination of a US$5 million project that will generate up to 1,000 new jobs.

“The study conducted by the World Bank fills us with great pride as it reflects the agency’s arduous efforts in attracting high-quality foreign investment that contributes to economic development and job creation in the country. In addition, it demonstrates that in Nicaragua we have the capacity to achieve great goals and that when we are truly committed, we can become the best in the world at what we do”, said Javier Chamorro, Executive Director of PRONicaragua.

For more information on the 2009 GIPB, visit:
http://www.fias.net/ifcext/fias.nsf/AttachmentsByTitle/GIPB2009/$FILE/GIPB2009.SummaryReport.pdf

Contact Information: Adriana Dorn – PRONicaragua - [email protected]

www.pronicaragua.org