ZCZC
BCN-45
WORLD-INVESTMENT-FORUM
World Investment Forum to tackle challenges of sustainable development
GENEVA, Oct. 10, 2018 (BSS/Xinhua) – The World Investment Forum is
scheduled for Oct. 22 to 26 in Geneva to tackle challenges of sustainable
development, it was announced on Tuesday.
The forum is a high-level biennial conference organized by the United
Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) for addressing
investment-related issues.
Marking its 10th anniversary, it is always “convened at a critical moment,
at times when investment policy-making is at crossroad”, said James Zhan,
director of the UNCTAD’s Division on Investment and Enterprise, at a press
conference in Geneva.
Recalling that the forum was organized in 2008 for the first time to deal
with financial, fuel and food crises, Zhan underlined that the forum
fulfilled, to certain extent, “the function of consensus-building at global
level, on key emerging issues related to investment, and investment policy in
particular”.
This year’s conference comes amid mounting disquiet about declining
investment flows. UN statistics show that global flows of foreign direct
investment fell by 23% in 2017. Cross-border investment in developed and
transition economies dropped sharply, while growth was near zero in
developing economies.
Zhan cautioned that investment policy-making community is faced with
triple “mega-challenges”, which are challenges of achieving UN’s Sustainable
Development Goals (SDGs), of adapting to new industrialization, and of
counteracting the erosion of multilateral collaboration.
He acknowledged that a dilemma exists between the abundant capital
liquidity and the significant shortage of investment in SDGs, with more
investment policies “going towards the direction of beggar-thy-neighbor
rather than prosper together”.
It is, he said, necessary to attract private investment in SDGs sectors
while ensuring that goods and services produced and provided by private
sectors are “affordable and accessible” to the poor.
UNCTAD research suggests that private sector investment in developing
countries totaling 3.9 trillion U.S. dollars a year is needed to generate
economic activity to meet the SDGs, while current levels leave an investment
gap of some 2.5 trillion U.S. dollars.
More than 5,000 participants from 160 countries, including fourteen heads
of state and government, ministers of developed and developing countries, and
heads of international organizations, will attend this year’s forum,
comprising some 60 events.
Besides giving participants a chance to spotlight priorities for
attracting and channeling investment that will drive sustainable development,
the forum sessions will also focus on transformative actions and innovative
financing modes for development, such as blockchain, sustainability bonds and
blended finance.
BSS/XINHUA/HR/1454