Five local investment and export promotion attaches deployed to strategically selected markets
The Namibia Investment Promotion and Development Board (NIPDB) has finalised the deployment of
five Investment and Export Promotion Attachés (IEPA) to strategically selected markets, a statement released this week stated.
This follows the development of the Foreign Representation Framework (FRF) which provides the guiding principles for foreign representation deployment and enables the Board to implement results-driven investment promotion, attraction, and facilitation.
The five attachés will assume a regional market representation responsibility and play an oversight role for locally recruited staff and other stakeholders in other countries in their regions, to maximise the utilisation of limited resources.
The attachés who assume their duties on 1 September 2022 will represent the NIPDB in the following regions: Sub-Saharan Africa (Pretoria), Middle East & North Africa (Cairo), Europe (London), Asia Pacific (Beijing), and Americas (New York).
Until 2021, the deployment of Commercial Counsellors who focus on all commercial functions was a function undertaken by the Ministry of Industrialisation and Trade (MIT). Then, Commercial Counselors were posted to various countries with the objective of creating brand awareness for Namibia in foreign markets, generating Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) leads, increasing and improving trade activities between Namibia and those countries, as well as exploring new and expanding existing export markets.
The attaché postings are aligned with the general provisions of the Foreign Service Rules administered by the Ministry of International Relations and Cooperation (MIRCO) and were developed in consultation with MIT and MIRCO.
With the NIPDB assuming the role of Namibia’s Investment Promotion Agency (IPA), overseeing the deployment of investment-focused Attachés now forms part of the Board’s mandate which necessitated the development of the FRF. The Framework sets clear criteria for IEPA recruitment processes, formulation of IEPA Terms of Reference and Key Performance Indicators (KPI) as well as operational and administrative matters. The FRF will be reviewed periodically based on new developments and trends.
NIPDB CEO Nangula Uaandja indicated that to effectively execute its mandate of FDI attraction, the Board has been developing investor-focused marketing tools that will ensure consistency and performance.
“The NIPDB intends to take a more direct and targeted approach to investment attraction. The Attachés will be supported by a technical team who will provide market intelligence that will allow them to target investors in key sectors. This will enable us to target the type of investor we would want to attract to Namibia,” said Uaandja.
The Board is cognisant of the important role that diplomatic missions play in investment promotion and attraction. Accordingly, as part of our stakeholder engagement strategy, the Board has hosted regular information-sharing sessions with Namibian Diplomatic Missions on Investment and Trade Promotion, to support missions’ efforts of facilitating economic diplomacy.
