World Dialogue on Regulation

The United Nations Conference on Trade & Development (UNCTAD) and the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) have published Investment Guides for a number of countries in Asia and Africa as part of their project on investment guides and capacity building for least developed countries (LDCs). The project seeks to help LDCs attract more foreign direct investment (FDI).

Investment guides are currently available for Bangladesh, Cambodia, Ethiopia, Mali, Mauritania, Mozambique, Nepal and Uganda. Guides for Kenya and tanzania will be published in 2005.

According to UNCTAD and the ICC, the investment guides are meant to be both attractive marketing tools for Governments and credible assessment tools for investors.

Distinctive features include the following:

• The guide is a third-party creation, produced by two international organizations for use by host-country Governments. It is for the Government but not by the Government.
• The guide is not a how to guide but a why guide. While it does provide a brief account of the procedures for new investors to follow, the focus is not on implementing an investment decision already made but on making it in the first place. First and foremost, the guide offers an overview of an investment location to a reader who is assumed to know very little about the country.
• The guide is distributed not only by Governments but also by UNCTAD and ICC through such channels as the national committees of the ICC, outward investment agencies of major home countries, and launching events in regional hubs.

The guides are available for download from the UNCTAD website