The Investment, Enterprise and Development Commission provides the opportunity for member States and investment and development stakeholders to discuss key and emerging issues in the areas of investment and enterprise, and technology, and their implications for sustainable development, as well as policy solutions.
Navigating the global investment landscape: strategic policy options
The global investment landscape is being reshaped by structural transformations that are altering the conditions under which developing countries attract, retain and leverage international investment.
Investment decisions that once centered on efficiency, scale and comparative advantage are increasingly influenced by risk governance, including economic, technological and security-related considerations. At the same time, the renewed prominence of industrial policy, the expanding role of regional frameworks and the centrality of digital infrastructure are redefining patterns of interdependence and the geography of production. As a result, foreign direct investment flows are increasingly shaped by geopolitical dynamics, regional proximity and the restructuring of global supply chains.
For developing economies, these shifts generate both opportunities and vulnerabilities, raising the need for new tools for risk assessment, strategic prioritization and positioning within regional and inter-regional networks. Competition in strategic sectors, including clean energy, advanced manufacturing, semiconductors, critical minerals and the digital economy, demands smart and adaptive industrial policy approaches that balance ambition with fiscal constraints.
Against this backdrop, the Commission will consider how developing countries can design coherent investment strategies that support resilience, competitiveness and sustainable development. Discussions will explore approaches to measure and manage exposure to global shifts, design smart industrial policies, leverage regional integration as a stabilizing and enabling mechanism and strengthen institutional capacities for evidence-based policymaking and investment promotion and facilitation.
The Commission will address the means to reach the above-mentioned goals, including discussions on the modernization of the International Investment Agreement (IIA) regime and how developing countries can adapt to emerging trends in the global investment landscape. It will address the increasing concentration of investment in strategic sectors such as the digital economy, the expanding role of regional frameworks, and the restructuring of global supply chain, while promoting the SDGs.
Reports of expert meetings
- Report of the Multi-year Expert Meeting on Investment, Innovation and Entrepreneurship for Productive Capacity- building and Sustainable Development on its 12th session.
- Report of the Intergovernmental Working Group of Experts on International Standards of Accounting and Reporting on its 42nd session.
Participation
The commission is open to all member States of UNCTAD. Specialized agencies, intergovernmental bodies and non-governmental organizations (general and special categories) are also eligible to participate as observers.
Registration
Online registration is mandatory for all those wishing to attend the session and is required in order to be included in the list of participants.
Logistics
The session will be held with physical participation at the Palais des Nations.
Those who cannot attend the session in person will be able to listen to the live audio stream in the six official languages of the United Nations.
The link to listen live will be sent to registered participants at the email address used for registration, one hour before the start of the session.
