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The ‘Investment For
Development’ (IFD) 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), in collaboration with
the United Nations Conference on Trade and
Development (UNCTAD). It is supported by the
Department for International Development
(DFID) of the UK.
Background
Foreign Direct Investment (FDI)
is being recognised widely as a potential
source of financing for development. It is
being seen as a principal channel for transfer
of technological know-how and a potentially
significant contributor to income and export
growth and employment. Several governments are
trying to create ‘enabling environments’ for
investment, making changes in the national
economic and institutional infrastructure,
though their attempts have been met with
varying degrees of success. FDI to developing
countries has been increasing, but
disproportionate shares have been going to a
handful of countries.
Through the experience of
selected countries, the IFD project attempts
to identify the various factors that can
encourage or inhibit investment flows, the
problems or deficiencies that exist in the
national investment regimes and plausible
solutions for the same. An extremely important
aspect of the project is involvement of
stakeholder groups, including civil society
representatives, throughout the process to
create the necessary momentum for building an
investment-friendly regime.
Investment-related regulations
and codes of conduct have been under
discussion at the multilateral level such as
the WTO, UNCTAD and in other bodies for
sometime now. In order to protect and promote
their interests, it is felt by developing
countries that they need to have adequate
expertise and capacity to engage actively in
negotiations and policy formulation. The IFD
project aims to raise awareness and
capabilities relating to investment among
policy-makers, government officials, business,
the media, civil society and other
stakeholders.
Outline
The project involves
fact-finding and advocacy work on investment
regimes in seven developing & transition
economies. The project has two components,
research and advocacy.
The project focuses 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
Launch Meeting
of the project was held at Jaipur, on December
13-14, 2001.
Progress At A Glance
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