Investment guidance will reach more poor countries
Paris, 6 February 2001 - A working partnership between business and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development to promote foreign direct investment in the world's poorest countries is to be extended after successfully completing its first stage.
The first least developed countries (LDCs) to benefit from a joint ICC-UNCTAD programme are Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Mali, Mozambique and Uganda. Eight more countries are now being selected for the programme's second phase, over three years.
Investment guides to the five countries were backed by workshops in their respective capitals at which business and government experts make critical examinations of investment policy and potential. Private brainstorming sessions between business executives and government officials form part of the programme.
The investment guides are directed at potential investors while the workshops are designed to increase the capacity of LDCs to bring in investors and provide them with the right conditions in which to operate.
The ICC-UNCTAD guides pull no punches, providing advice on such topics as tax regimes, repatriation of profits, property laws, labour legislation, educational standards and infrastructure. The programme also includes systematic comparisons with the investment-friendliness of countries in similar circumstances.
The programmes assist least developed countries (LDCs) to compete for the investment dollar so that they can benefit from the huge increase in FDI that characterizes today's global economy.
Although FDI flows have increased enormously in recent years, reaching $1,000 billion in 2000, dist ribution has been uneven, and the LDCs as a group received very little. ICC and UNCTAD both regard FDI as a major contributor to economic growth and development.
FDI can bring capital, technology, management knowhow, jobs and access to new markets. It tends to be more stable than other forms of capital flows because it involves a longer-term commitment to the host economy. As Aleksander Stojanoski, the ICC manager in charge of the programme, says: "Companies do not dismantle a factory at the whiff of an adverse market."
All the guides have been compiled with the help of experts from leading multinational companies, ICC and UNCTAD.
An independent evaluation panel this month described the pilot phase of the ICC-UNCTAD project on investment guides and capacity building as "a well-conceived project, effectively implemented." The panel was headed by Professor Jean-Pierre Lehmann, of the International Institute for Management Development in Lausanne, Switzerland.
The evaluation said the project was "unique in its emphasis on collaboration between the public and private sectorsThe panel unreservedly recommends extending the project to other LDCs."
(The investment guide to Mozambique is being printed)
Investment guide to Bangladesh
Investment guide to Mali (French version; English to follow)
Investment guide to Ethiopia
Investment guide to Uganda
ICC Global Compact pages
The UN Global Compact site
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