UNITED NATIONS AND INTERNATIONAL CHAMBER OF COMMERCE TO COOPERATE ON PROJECT TO STIMULATE INVESTMENT FLOWS TO AFRICA AND LEAST DEVELOPED COUNTRIES
Press Release
SG/2042
TAD/1854
UNITED NATIONS AND INTERNATIONAL CHAMBER OF COMMERCE TO COOPERATE ON PROJECT TO STIMULATE INVESTMENT FLOWS TO AFRICA AND LEAST DEVELOPED COUNTRIES
19980209 Senior United Nations Secretariat officials, led by Secretary-General Kofi Annan, and a high-level business delegation from the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) today agreed to join forces in a move aimed at boosting investment flows into Africa and 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 the ICC.
The decision to draw up the guides came at a meeting called to explore ways of stepping up dialogue and cooperation between the United Nations and business.
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 the 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. Even small amounts of foreign direct investment have a significant impact in countries with low levels of domestic investment and skills; therefore, their economies would benefit from greater flows.
The 48 countries identified by the United Nations as least developed, 33 of which are in Africa, currently attract less than 1 per cent of total foreign investment flows.
All these countries welcome foreign 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 them are not taken up simply because relevant information is not available to investors -- a serious shortcoming in the highly competitive world market for foreign investment. The investment guides are intended to help fill this gap.
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