INVESTMENT FOR DEVELOPMENT (IFD Project)
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Investment for Development |
Investment for DevelopmentThe “Investment For Development” Project aims to create awareness and build capacity on investment regimes and international investment issues in developing and transition economies. This two-year project, launched in September 2001, is being conducted by the Consumer Unity & Trust Society (CUTS), with collaboration from UNCTAD. It is supported by the Department for International Development (DFID) of the UK. Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) is now widely acknowledged as an engine of growth, and developing and transition country governments are increasingly keen to attract this investment. They are using a variety of policy measures to try to attract FDI, with varying degrees of success. Many governments are trying to create ‘enabling environments’ for investment, making changes in the national economic and institutional infrastructure. FDI to developing countries is increasing, but disproportionate shares go to certain countries, while some countries are all but forgotten by investors. This project seeks to assist selected countries to attract investment by identifying the factors that encourage or inhibit investment flows, identifying the problems or deficiencies that exist at the national level, and designing and implementing solutions. An extremely important htmlect of the project will be the involvement of stakeholder groups throughout the process, including civil society representatives, to create the necessary momentum to build an investment-friendly regime. Investment-related regulations and codes of conduct are also under discussion at the multilateral level, at the WTO, UNCTAD and in other bodies. In order to protect and promote their interests, developing countries need to have adequate expertise and capacity to engage actively in negotiations and policy formulation. The project will raise awareness and capabilities relating to investment among policy-makers, government officials, business, the media, civil society and other stakeholders. The project involves fact-finding and advocacy work on investment regimes in seven developing & transition economies. The project will have two components, research and advocacy. The project will focus on the following countries: India, Bangladesh, Brazil, Hungary, South Africa, Tanzania and Zambia. The countries were selected to cover a range in terms of size, level of development, geographical location, macroeconomic characteristics (including Least Developed Countries, lower- and upper-middle income countries), policy orientation and performance in terms of attracting FDI. The level of activity and capacity in civil society organisations was also taken into account. The project will be publicly launched at an international meeting in Jaipur on 13th & 14th December 2001. Research: In order to form a complete picture of the effectiveness of investment policies in selected countries, two research reports will be prepared. The first will cover: the broad macroeconomic environment including performance in domestic and foreign direct investment; broad parameters of the policy environment; an investment policy audit; the institutional and policy-making framework for investment in the country. The research for this report will rely mainly on the existing literature and policy documents. One report will be prepared for each country and will take the form of a reader-friendly document for distribution to stakeholders and other interested parties at the national level. The second report will cover perceptions of the investment environment the country’s performance in terms of attracting FDI and in securing benefits from FDI for the national economy. Inputs for the report will include secondary sources, official documents, economic data and a survey. The survey will employ structured questionnaires on the views and decisions of actual and potential investors in each country, including domestic companies, subsidiaries of transnational corporations, and parent companies in third countries. Three sectors with distinct characteristics will be selected for case studies. The case studies will look in detail at the economic, policy and legal features of the investment environment and assess their impact on final performance. The output will be a reader-friendly document, accessible to all stakeholders and civil society in particular. These reports will be completed by July 2002. Country level research will be supplemented by surveys to be conducted internationally in home countries with TNCs that are considering, conducting or withdrawing from investments in the project countries. This will provide a valuable insight into the kinds of factors that influence investor decisions across countries, particularly where investor experiences have been unsatisfactory.. On the basis of the country reports, international surveys and other sources of datawill be compiled in two synthesis documents by the core researchers, expert economists specialising in the area of investment. These will highlight similarities and differences, cull out examples of good practice and develop a set of policy recommendations based on these. The documents will reflect the significant differences between large developing countries (Brazil, India and South Africa) and LDCs (Bangladesh, Tanzania and Zimbabwe) and transition economies (Hungary) in terms of their capabilities and needs. These reports will also generate recommendations for developing countries in international negotiations on this issue at the WTO or in other bodies. They will be completed by December 2002. Three national-level seminars (National Reference Group Meetings) will be organised in each of the project countries for a broad cross-section of stakeholders including government, business, civil society etc. National research reports will be presented and discussed at these events, ensuring that the research accurately reflects the realities of the investment environments. National seminars will also seek to raise awareness on investment issues and stimulate debate across the stakeholder groups. The first national seminar will take place at the beginning of 2002. Subsequent seminars will take place during the course of 2002. On the basis of the consultations that take place at the national seminars, a set of policy recommendations will be formulated for circulation and advocacy work at the national level. Building on the national-level work, three Regional Seminars will be organised in collaboration with UNCTAD in three different regions in the second half of 2002. These will probably be held in Asia, Africa and Latin America and will aim to disseminate the research results widely and to raise awareness of the development dimension of investment policies both at the national level and with respect to international investment agreements. The main target audience for these seminars will be civil society groups, while resource persons will be regional and international experts and practitioners in the subject area. The advocacy element of the project will culminate in an International Meeting to be held in Geneva in the second quarter of 2003. This major event will bring together investment experts and practitioners to present the results of the project to an international audience of trade negotiators and other interested parties. The event will provide a forum to share the learnings of the project with a wide audience and to raise awareness on the needs and concerns of developing countries with regard to international investment agreements. It will also highlight key issues for training and capacity-building on investment in developing countries and promote cooperation and information exchange between developing countries to develop a common strategy on these issues. Project outreach will be strengthened by regular newsletters and access to project materials on the Web. Two newsletters, one electronic and one hard-copy, will be distributed regularly throughout the project. The hard-copy newsletter will be produced quarterly. It will include updates on the project, highlights of the research results and other project outputs and topical articles on issues in the area of investment. The electronic newsletter will include updates on the project, news summaries and links to stories and sites of interest to investment stakeholders and links to the project area of CUTS’ web-site. A section of CUTS web-site will be dedicated to the
project and regularly updated with progress reports and other news items. The
page would contain links to other sites of interest and to project partners’
sites where possible. Most reports will be available to download from the site.
Project participants and other interested parties will be encouraged to use
the web-site through links in the e-newsletter. Project partners will be encouraged
to carry information on the project on their own sites. National-level research and advocacy will be conducted by partner organisations in the selected countries. The following institutions have been confirmed as partners:
A Project Advisory Committee comprised of international experts including policy-makers, representatives of international organisations, academia and other civil society groups will guide the design and implementation of the project. The Advisory Committee members are as follows:
For more information please contact: Email: |
CUTS
Centre For International Trade, Economics
& Environment (CITEE)
D–217, Bhaskar Marg, Bani Park, Jaipur 302 016, India, Ph:
+91(0)141-207 482 Fx: 91(0)141-207 486/203 998 Email: / ifd_cuts@rediffmail.com |
D-217, Bhaskar Marg, Bani Park, Jaipur 302 016, India Phone: 91.141.207 482, Fax: 91.141.207 486/203 998 |
