YORKSHIRE FORWARD has been ranked among the best in the world for the way it sells the region to potential foreign investors.

Compared with more than 150 investment promotion agencies (IPAs) across the world, Yorkshire's regional development agency was ranked in the top third.

In what was a record-breaking year for foreign direct investment in Yorkshire and Humber, more than 1,000 new jobs were created by foreign companies that invested in the region in 2004 after contacting Yorkshire Forward.

Staff from the performance benchmarking company GDP Global carried out a "mystery shopper"-style analysis in July.

GDP's report concluded: "It seems clear that Yorkshire Forward is committed to being a leading player in investment promotion and attraction."

GDP staff posed as agents for a market leading US company investigating the possibility of building a new 5,000 sq metre manufacturing plant with a local semi-skilled workforce.

Yorkshire Forward's response was assessed against 13 key elements, ranging from the time it took the agency to respond, to how relevant their replies were to the clients' demands.

Susan Johnson, Yorkshire Forward's executive director of business development, said: "The fact that we had a record year is especially pleasing at a time when the numbers of jobs being created by foreign investment has been falling across the UK.

"This independent survey shows that we are backing up our claims to be a world leading region with a truly world class service to foreign investors."

GDP also assessed Yorkshire Forward's e-communications systems and said it had performed "significantly better, in most respects" than the benchmark set by other developed world IPAs.

Yorkshire Forward's Inward Investment team was directly responsible for 24 foreign companies deciding to start operations in Yorkshire last year.

Updated: 11:07 Monday, January 10, 2005