What do you see as the particular advantages that you offer to an investor from this particular sector?

Foreign investment committee of Chile, Karen Poniachik, executive vice-president Cross-sector investments, including the automotive industry, in geographically isolated regions of Chile

Investors in isolated areas, including General Motors in the far north, can set part of their investment outlay and labour costs against taxes. In addition, Chile’s numerous free trade treaties mean privileged access to international markets. Duty-free access to Mexico is a key advantage for the automotive industry, which also uses Chile’s bonded warehouse system to re-export to neighbouring countries.

Alberta Economic Development, Susan Henderson, director of investment attraction, Europe Sector targeted: biotechnology

Alberta’s two major cities offer cost advantages: Edmonton is the lowest cost city in Canada; Calgary is number 3 in overall ratings across 12 industries. These cities are number 1 and number 4 respectively among North American cities over 500,000 persons for lowest cost in biomedical research companies.

Costa Rican Investment Board, Anabel Gonzalez, director-general Sector: information technology

The 2001 Global Competitiveness report ranked Costa Rica as the number one Latin American country in the technology index for the quality of its environment for innovation, the capacity to receive international technology and export goods with technological content, and the degree of assimilation of new information and telecommunications technologies.

CzechInvest, Martin Jahn, chief executive officer, Sector: outsourcing – shared service centres

The Czech Republic offers a multilingual, skilled and productive workforce. For example, 95% of secondary school students study English. The increasingly liberal and feature-rich telecommunications network and the government’s commitment to spend more on education means the Czech Republic can more competitively meet the needs of multinational companies.

Estonian Investment Agency, Andrus Viirg, director, Sector: information technology

Estonia has a favourable investment climate, characterised by rapid economic growth, political stability, low taxes, free movement of capital and equal rights with local investors.

Hungarian Investment and Trade Development Agency, Lajos Csősz, marketing director, Sector: automotive

Investors will enjoy an outstanding investment climate, including a brilliant skills base, a highly motivated and well-trained labour force, a relatively low labour cost, a good infrastructure, a good macroeconomic performance and political and economic stability. Also, it offers a good quality of life for foreign families.

Invest Hong Kong, Mike Rowse, director-general, Sector: telecoms, IT, tourism, technology, financial services, business services, transportation

Hong Kong has a strong and efficient financial market, a large pool of venture capital firms and potential investors for biotech projects, vigorous intellectual property protection, a central location in Asia and proximity to the mainland, which is one of the fastest-growing biotech markets in the world.

Invest in Iceland, Gardar Ingvarsson, managing director, Sector: energy-intensive industries

Iceland has large, untapped, renewable energy resources and a reliable power supply at competitive prices. With a mid-Atlantic location and a modern infrastructure it provides good industrial sites with safe, deep-water harbours. Iceland’s EEA membership provides tariff-free access to the European market.

IDA Ireland, Brendan Halpin, marketing and services manager, Sector: IT, pharmaceutical/ health care/ financial and international services

Ireland offers investors a stable, profitable, English speaking base to service European markets. The fastest growing economy in Europe, Ireland has a cost competitive environment and the lowest corporate tax rate in Europe (10%–12.5%). The Irish government is also investing heavily in areas such as research, education, telecoms and other physical infrastructure.

Jamaican Export & Investment Facilitation Agency, Julian J Robinson, manager, Sector: IT and international business, IT outsourcing

Investors can make significant cost savings while maintaining their quality of service. Additionally, investors have access to a large English-speaking labour force that has a customer service orientation. Jamaica also has a world-class telecommunications infrastructure with a fibre optic ring around the country, linking it to the major international gateways.

Government of Trinidad & Tobago, Candyce Kelshall, commercial attache, Sector: down stream petrochemicals and chemicals, plastics, pharmaceuticals, fertilizers, specialty chemicals, paints and cosmetics, perfumes and toiletries

The country has a well established presence in the petroleum and natural gas energy sector and the expertise is available in abundance to exploit the added value of developing the downstream end of the energy production line. Competitively priced human and natural resourses apart, we offer some the cheapest energy and electricity prices and lowest costs of doing business in the hemisphere. We don’t compete with the Caribbean alone, we compete with the world.

Western cape Investment and Tarde Promotion Agency, Roland Hein, chief operating officer, Sector: automotive components

The cost of doing business compares very favourably with our competitors and is surprisingly one of the lowest in the world. South Africa’s major automotive customers are in Europe, and Cape Town’s ports provide a link to this market while supplying the main industry based further north around Johannesburg and the Eastern Cape. Industry specific incentives are available for investors, such as schemes which allows imports of raw materials tax free to the value of the local component of their export.