International Update

Angola has still to catch up with being oil rich and at peace with itself. A decade has passed since its long civil war ended, and in many ways it has made remarkable progress. Yet much remains to be done – from building infrastructure to reviving agriculture and raising much of its population out of poverty.

An expanded list of Best to Invest European cities adds representative metros of Austria, Italy and Spain on the Western side and Estonia, Turkey and the Slovak Republic in the East (see charts). These metros captured enough new and expanded facility investments in 2011, and were deemed superior to other metros in their regions in the LocationSelector.com analysis from IC Associates outlined on page 28, to be recognized here for consideration when European locations are in play.

China and India metros dominate this year’s Best to Invest ranking of Asia-Pacific cities — determined by Site Selection’s New Plant Database, LocationSelector.com analysis from Amsterdam-based IC Associates and a survey of global site consultants. But there’s plenty of activity elsewhere in the region, particularly in Sydney, Australia, and Seoul and Ulsan, South Korea, which ranked sixth, seventh and eighth, respectively.

Dow Corning, which has had a presence in Belgium since the early 1960s, is adding two major projects to its footprint south of Brussels. The company’s European headquarters, home to about 700 employees, is based in Seneffe, about 40 km. (25 miles) south of Brussels and about 30 km. (19 miles) north of the border with France. Dow Corning recently opened its Solar Energy Exploration and Development (SEED) center on its Seneffe campus and will soon open a major distribution center nearby.

In recent years, Brazil has emerged as the top destination country for foreign investment in Latin America, attracting a third of foreign investment projects into the region, and creating 50,000 new jobs in 2010. Brazil increased six positions as a global destination of foreign projects, reaching fifth place in 2010, after the U.S. and the rest of the BRIC countries, according to the IBM-PLI Global Location Trends report 2011.

IBM’s 2011 Global Location Trends report, released in November, sheds light on how Mexico remains the leading recipient of foreign investment in Latin America.

Japan’s Panasonic Corp. is one of the latest multinationals to toss its hat in Malaysia’s solar industry ring. Malaysia’s Kulim Hi-Tech Park, which is becoming a nexus for solar module production, is also home to high-tech companies such as Infineon.

Economist Thomas Faranda, in a spring 2011 talk before the Industrial Asset Management Council, called Canada a sleeping giant, albeit one that’s about to wake up. And its alarm clock is perched on its Western half.

Even if they are not permanent jobs, 6,500 direct and indirect jobs will boost any area’s economic prospects. Chevron Australia’s Wheatstone Project, a major LNG plant investment on Australia’s northwest coast, will have that effect and will result in revenues to the government of about AU$20 billion (US$19 billion) and $17 billion (US$16 billion) to Australian businesses over the next 30 years.

Perched on the southern tip of the Korean peninsula is the city of Yeosu. Known for its ocean ecology, the city of just under 300,000 also boasts an ocean-port economy driven by its own historic port and the nearby Port of Gwanyang, home to Korean giant POSCO’s largest steelmaking complex in the world, as well as the Gwangyang Bay Area Free Economic Zone (GFEZ).

In January 2010, based on Ontario’s feed-in tariff scheme for renewable power put into place in 2009, Samsung C&T and Korea Electric Power Corp. (KEPCO) signed a C$7-billion renewable energy agreement with the provincial government that would include multiple solar and wind farm projects as well as a commitment of four in-province manufacturing complexes from Samsung.

Energy businesses such as Norway’s Aker Solutions and U.S. firm FMC Technologies are landing more jobs on Scottish shores, as well as in London. Food companies such as Kraft are growing from Ballymena to York. Car companies Jaguar Land Rover, Lear and Rolls-Royce Motor Cars (a unit of BMW) are growing and steel is rolling.

India’s western state of Gujarat has long been an industrial nexus, specializing in petrochemicals, pharmaceuticals and textiles.

Germany: Is Germany Europe’s Safest Bet?

Does the photograph on this page frighten or inspire? How a company or a country answers that question goes a long way toward explaining the maturing and increasingly integrated global role of China as a production, research, talent and market base.

FDI levels are rising in India. So are actual projects, thanks to government approvals and infrastructure needs.

Allen & Overy is one of the world’s most active law firms, with more than 5,000 employees in 26 countries,

When a province is creating more than half the new jobs for its nation, chances are it’s a leader in competitiveness.

Atlantic Canada has taken heat over the years for its overfished waters. The kinetic energy those chilly waters produce may be harder to deplete.

A January foreign direct investment update from the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development found that, after a decline in 2009, FDI inflows to Southeast Asia were booming again in 2010

Wisconsin-based Manitowoc Cranes announced in February that it would establish its first Latin American manufacturing beachhead in Brazil.

Where Europe’s investors want to invest — and where they will.

Central America is increasingly valuable as a nearshoring option for U.S. multinational companies looking to site back office and contact center operations to serve North American clients.