Auckland’s plan to attract investors ranks highly

Media release

21 January 2014

Auckland’s plan to attract investors ranks highly

A strategy developed by Auckland Tourism, Events and Economic Development (ATEED) to attract foreign direct investment into Auckland has been named fourth best in the Asia-Pacific.

The ‘Asia-Pacific Cities of the Future 2013/14’ rankings were compiled by highly respected fDi Intelligence, a division of the UK’s Financial Times and the world’s largest foreign direct investment (FDI) centre of excellence.

ATEED chief executive Brett O’Riley says the accolade is further global recognition of Auckland’s reputation as a city on the rise: “Auckland is turning heads with its level of business innovation and technology adoption, backed by Auckland Council’s ambitious economic growth plans, sound strategy and planning.”

“The actions ATEED is putting in place to deliver on Council’s vision to be the world’s most liveable city are garnering real attention from high net worth individuals and major corporate investors. We are creating the type of business and living environment which attracts multi-national companies and hugely talented entrepreneurs,” says Brett O’Riley.

fDi Intelligence collected data for 95 cities in the Asia Pacific region under five categories: economic potential; labour environment; cost effectiveness; infrastructure; and business friendliness. Asian powerhouse Hong Kong was named overall number one.  A sixth category, FDI strategy, saw cities submit details on their strategies for promoting FDI.

ATEED’s Business Attraction & Investment team, led by general manager David Caselli, managed Auckland’s FDI strategy submission.

The city’s ranking in the strategy category jumped to fourth, from seventh in the previous rankings in 2011/12. Auckland also broke into the top 10 in the labour environment category.

Brett O’Riley says: “Our goal is certainly to make the top 10 overall, and we’re under no illusions about the level of work required to compete with, and overtake Asia’s economic tigers. That’s why recognition for our strategic thinking is pleasing – we are showing the clever ideas which will keep us rising up the tables.”

“ATEED’s FDI strategy was developed over an 18-month period, which included reviewing about 15 other FDI strategies from international cities such as Copenhagen and Brisbane.

“I am proud of this recognition for the solid work ATEED’s investment and business attraction specialists are doing, including developing a top 100 list of multinationals and international investors in Auckland. ATEED has already engaged most to find out how we can help them do business in our region.”

Brett O’Riley says the strategy ranking is an important stepping stone in the journey to attract additional investment into the Auckland region.

“Having our strategy ranked fourth is a very useful building block to have, but there’s still a lot of work to do given the huge amount of investment required for major infrastructure projects. It’s now up to ATEED and the partners we collaborate with to execute against this strategy, including the development of major milestones such as the Auckland Investment Office, which will lead to Auckland’s rankings in other fDI category rankings rise.”

Ends

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