Vatan – Holding the Vice Presidency of the World Association of Investment Promotion Agencies (WAIPA) since February 2013, the President of the Investment Support and Promotion Agency of Türkiye (ISPAT), Ilker Ayci, has been elected to the Presidency of the umbrella organization that covers 175 national and regional investment promotion agencies from 132 countries. The ISPAT President received all votes cast by the 14-member WAIPA Steering Committee at the committee meeting held in Cape Town, South Africa. The investment promotion agencies of South Africa and Azerbaijan will serve as Vice Presidents during President Ayci’s term.
Reaffirming his resolution to make WAIPA a more effective and affluent organization, the newly elected President said that Türkiye’s acceptance of a leadership role in an international organization was an important contribution to the country’s prestige and influence before Türkiye takes over the Presidency of the Group of Twenty (G20) organization in 2015.
“The WAIPA Presidency is also crucial to the relocation of WAIPA headquarters from Geneva, Switzerland to Istanbul”, Ayci said about the possible moving of the organization’s head office. “Right at the center of Afro-Eurasia and an important airline hub providing easy access to a combined population of 1 billion people and USD 25 trillion of GDP, Istanbul could offer an excellent home to WAIPA.”, he noted. The issue is expected to be put to vote at WAIPA’s General Assembly Meeting to be held in May this year.
Hosting the WAIPA headquarters is also in line with the Turkish government’s Istanbul International Finance Center project which envisions the concentration of various public and private financial institutions in an integrated complex in Türkiye’s historic city. Istanbul is already home to the regional headquarters of an increasing number of multinational companies such as Microsoft, Coca-Cola, and GE Healthcare who manage surrounding markets from Türkiye.