Session 2: The role of Investment Facilitation for Development Agreement needs assessments and implementation in mobilizing sustainable investment
Thank you, Deputy Director-General Hill, and good afternoon to our distinguished panelists.
We often discuss trade and investment as separate agendas. They are not. Investment builds the factories, the logistics, the digital infrastructure that allow countries to export. And exports generate the revenue that services debt, finances imports of capital goods and makes an economy attractive to the next investor.
It is a virtuous circle – and for many developing countries, it is the central engine of growth. The Investment Facilitation for Development Agreement sits at the heart of that circle.
I want to make 2 points. First, on why needs assessments are essential. Second, on what UN Trade and Development (UNCTAD) does to support them.
On needs assessments. They are the operationalization of a foundational principle of international trade governance: special and differential treatment – the idea that developing countries should implement commitments at their own pace, according to their own capacity, with the support they need.
This Agreement takes that principle seriously. It is voluntary and plurilateral – 128 World Trade Organization (WTO) members have chosen to participate, including 91 developing economies. Because it is built from the bottom up, each country self-designates which provisions it can implement immediately, which require more time, and which require technical assistance.
But self-designation without evidence is guesswork. The needs assessment is what makes special and differential treatment operational. It tells a government: here is where your regulatory framework already aligns with the Agreement, here is where the gaps are, and here is what you need to close them — in areas like transparency, the streamlining of procedures, and digitization.
This brings me to my second point – UNCTAD’s role on the ground. We are one of seven partner organizations supporting the needs assessment process and co-developed the Investment Facilitation for Development Self-Assessment Guide that countries use to conduct them. Over 20 assessments are now underway – from Ecuador, which completed the first pilot, to the six OECS member states, Guatemala, Barbados and beyond. But our work goes well beyond assessments. Since 2016, we have supported over 60 countries in deploying digital investment platforms.
Online single windows in developing countries have grown five-fold — from 13 to 67. In The Gambia, for example, a new digital business registration system is already making procedures faster and more transparent. Our International Investment Agreement Facilitation Mapping Database, covering over 400 investment agreements, gives countries a practical tool to coordinate their commitments.
Excellencies, the goal is straightforward. When a small enterprise in Dakar or Dhaka wants to attract a foreign partner, the rules should be clear, the procedures efficient and the support available. That is what this Agreement promises — and what needs assessments help deliver. We look forward to continuing this work at the World Investment Forum in Qatar this October.
Thank you.