If you live and work in Europe then perhaps the European Patent Office might be the most appropriate organisation to submit your patent to. There have been significant efforts made align IP policy and regulations in most EU countries.

In France for example, there is something called "enveloppe Soleau" which is the first step to protect your idea or invention. This is an envelope that you submit to the patent office with a document of no more than 7 pages testifying for the antecedence of your idea for a duration of 5 years, it costs 15 Euros only. Meanwwhile you can work on filing your patent while having the assurance that you will be recognised as the original idea producer.

Most countries around the world, 148 at the moment, participate in the Patent Cooperation Treaty. This saves on search costs, but less so in translation costs. The actual choice of jurisdictions is limited by budgets, but nevertheless should focus in the countries where manufacturing and export will most likely occur and the main markets for the product. Broad geographic coverage is useless if not matched by prosecution/litigation funds. In addition, timing is of high importance since foreign filings generally must be made within 12 months of first publication worldwide.

http://www.wipo.int/pct/en/pct_contracting_states.html

There are a number of aspects which you need to consider.

First of all, it is not entirely clear to me from your questoins as to whether you have already filed a patent application as a first filing or not. If you have done so, than the Paris Convention allows to file a so-called subsequent patent applications within 12 months from the first filing date. These subsequent patent applications can claim the filing date of the earlier patent application as so-called priority date, which is the relevant date for determining the relevant prior art.

In deciding which countries you want to keep open the possibility of having a granted patent right, indeed you can consider filing an international patent application under the Patent Cooperation Treaty, as suggested by Fernando Torres. This internation application postpones costs and a decision on the actual countries with one and a half years. After that period a decision must be taken, in which countries/regions you want to continue with applying for a patent.

The country decision should be made on the basis of the commercial interests of the invention. Thus, countries where you intend to manufacture or market the invention, and countries where competitors manufacture or market similar products would be important. Additionally, some patent offices have a good reputation as regards there substantive examination of patents, such as Europe and the United States. If you are successful in getting a granted patent before these patent offices, then many other small patent offices are willing to follow their decisions.

Finally, note that there is no "global patent". A patent right is always a national right and only yields protection in the countries where a granted patent is actually in force.

My personal believe is that you do not neccessarily have to apply for a patent at the patent office in the country where the (potential or already known) manufacturer of your invention is located, because that may be handled by a licensing agreement with the manufacturer, it is the markets you need to secure. As soon as you have submitted the patent application in your country (in order to get a priority date) you canalready offer your invention to manufacturers, but do not forget to let them sign a NDA (non dicclosure agreement)! A market analysis might help to decide, in which countries there will be the most users of your invention, but you do not need to decide on these countries right away. A manufacturer can sell the product in every country, not only the ones, that you will have a patent in.

No-one gives a monkey's which countries are patent-friendly or not.

What matters is which countries' patents can give you the commercial leverage that counts.

You can spend your fortune getting patents in Namibia, but unless they relate to mining you are probably wasting your money.

The benefit of having a patent in a 'difficult' country is to a large extent that potential partners and competitors will believe that you will get the same coverage in the countries that matter. 

Having a patent in a 'rubber stamp' country, such as Namibia, is totally meaningless unless that country is economically important to you.

The general rule is US, EP and JP first (if relevant), then go as far down the list of target countries as makes financial sense (this list varies according to the subject matter, the consumers and the competitors).

Patents are business tools - use them as that, otherwise you are wasting your money. In the patent profession, we are well aware of what we call "vanity patents", pieces of paper with shiny seals, useful only to boost the ego of the 'inventor' and decorate her office.

I heartily agree with Dr. Cockbain.

Do not assume that an "obvious" alternative is the best. For example, filing in the European Patent Office (EPO) can be unnecessarily expensive. I worked with one product that justified patent filing in the UK, France and Germany. Filing the patent applications separately in each country cost less than the EPO filing.