Investment
guides to least developed countries planned
United Nations,
New York, 9 February
1998 – The International Chamber of Commerce
and senior UN Secretariat officials led by Secretary-General Kofi Annan have
agreed plans to make more information available about investment prospects in
Africa and the least developed countries.
The two sides supported a proposal that the United Nations Conference on Trade
and Development (UNCTAD) should prepare a series of business investment guides
to the least developed countries with the cooperation of ICC.
The decision to draw up the guides came at a meeting called to explore ways
of stepping up collaboration between the UN and business in promoting economic
growth and boosting the private sector in developing countries.
The guides are to contain accurate, objective, investor-oriented and comparative
information on investment opportunities and conditions in the countries covered.
It was noted that UNCTAD has the technical capacity and requisite access to
governments for compiling the guides and that business input through ICC would
ensure that the guides are relevant to business needs.
Integration of the least developed countries into the global economy is a major
challenge facing the international community. Although even a small amount of
foreign direct investment has a significant impact in countries with low levels
of domestic investment and skills, their economies would obviously benefit from
greater investment flows.
The 48 countries identified by the UN as least developed (38 of which are in
Africa) currently attract only about 1% of total foreign direct investment.
All these countries welcome foreign direct investment and many have introduced
market friendly reforms to attract it. But political instability, the lack of
favourable policy frameworks, inadequate physical infrastructure and the absence
of efficient support services remain formidable disincentives.
However, there is evidence of potentially profitable investment opportunities
in least developed countries. Many of these opportunities are not taken up simply
because relevant information is not available to investors – a serious
shortcoming in the highly competitive world market for foreign direct investment.
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