Scotland Ranked Sixth Globally in World Bank Survey
The World Bank has ranked Scottish Development International (SDI) sixth in the world for its work in attracting overseas investment to Scotland.
The Global Investment Promotion Benchmarking report for 2009 examined how effectively government organisations such as SDI are at promoting their countries to inward investors.
Produced jointly by the World Bank, the International Finance Corporation and the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency, the report looked at the work of 181 countries in influencing foreign investors looking for new global locations.
As well as the global ranking, SDI recorded the highest score in the UK – and was noted particularly for its work in the areas of customer care and follow-up.
Commenting on the results, Ceci Sager, Manager, Investment Climate Advisory Services Department at the World Bank, said:
"We would like to congratulate Scottish Development International on achieving such a high level of performance despite the challenging economic climate. SDI excelled over many of its peers, scoring particularly highly in the area of customer care and follow up.
"One of the leading investment promotion agencies in both in the UK and globally, SDI has proven to be very effective in facilitating foreign investment projects, further building on Scotland’s reputation as a successful global investment location."
Last week SDI announced that over the period 2008-09 it brought £500 million of planned investment to Scotland, including almost 2,000 high value jobs.
Speaking about the report, Lena Wilson, Chief Executive of SDI said:
“Scotland has a strong track record of attracting foreign direct investment, and our World Bank ranking further builds on the real success we have had over the past year in bringing projects to Scotland.
“However, in the current economic climate it’s more important than ever that we continue to focus on attracting high quality research and development projects and opportunities for skilled employment to Scotland. Inward investment based on this has the potential to become firmly embedded in the Scottish economy and make a real contribution to our long-term growth.”
- Scotland came sixth globally after Austria, Copenhagen, Sweden, Germany and Canada. Each agency website and two ‘mystery shopper’ projects were assessed.
- SDI’s work to attract inward investment to Scotland saw the creation of 4,000 jobs over the period 2008-09, almost 2,000 of which were high value jobs with salaries of over £30k.
- Examples of organisations which have either located or expanded their operations in Scotland in the past year include esure, Schering Plough, Shed Media and Doosan Babcock.
- Scottish Development International (SDI) works to attract inward investment and knowledge to Scotland to help the economy grow. It also helps Scottish companies to do more business overseas and promote Scotland as a good place to live, work and do business. It is jointly operated by Scottish Enterprise and the Scottish Government, and its work is guided by the Scottish Government’s strategy for economic development in Scotland.
- For further information visit www.sdi.co.uk.