The report noted that the country had improved its overall score in the GIPB’s criteria to “an excellent 70 percent, which is an almost 140 percent improvement.” Botswana is the second most improved country in the three years that the GIPB has been done, trailing only to Croatia.

The GIPB report - a World Bank initiative - is solely focused on the Investment Promotion Intermediaries (IPIs) of each country, as surveys have revealed that more than 65 percent of investors deal with these agencies when assessing their destination options.

The report was first rolled out to 96 countries in 2006 and this year, 181 IPIs took part in the GIPB. In the 2009 GIPB, Botswana was ranked 23rd in the world in terms of global national IPIs, making it the highest in Africa and placing the country among the 25 elite in the world.

The report noted that only Botswana and Mauritius excelled in the GIPB's assessment criteria within the continent. "GIPB 2009 found examples of exceptional capability and performance among IPIs. As a group, IPIs of the high-income economies of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) performed substantially better than IPIs in other regions."

Many middle income countries, such as Botswana, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Croatia, Ecuador and others, performed very well, often on tight budgets.

"Clearly IPIs that performed well across all GIPB assessments (web site and two project inquiries) had invested time and effort to do research and in particular, on their key target sectors, develop informative materials based on the research, establish internal management protocols and train and supervise staff meeting those protocols," the report read in part.

The GIPB urged countries to rethink their strategies to attract FDI in the current recession.