Foreign direct investment (FDI) offers a useful entry point for integration into global value chains (GVCs). It also offers a host of technology and financial resources that may bring tangible benefits to domestic firms and industries, thereby increasing their productivity and capability. However, FDI attraction is not without its challenges amid intensifying competition for foreign investments. Even for countries that successfully attracted FDI positive development outcomes are not pre-ordained. The roundtable discussed two major topics – investment facilitation as well as linkages with foreign investors – to address ideas and options available to policymakers, which may contribute to evidence-based policymaking at G20 at the broad level.

The roundtable was planned as a half-day event with two sessions. The first session presented new considerations in FDI attraction that warrant attention for policymakers and practitioners alike. It highlighted best practices in investment facilitation and promotion, presented some innovative and possibly replicable programmes from around the world, and outlined key implementation issues that may help investment promotion agencies (IPAs) enhance their capability to attract and retain FDI. Also, this session looked at the potential benefits of an international framework on investment facilitation currently under discussion at the WTO. The second session focused on integration of domestic enterprises, most notably small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), into the global production networks of multinational firms, which is often difficult due to scale and capability constraints. The session examined the rationale for SME integration from the perspective of long-term upgrading and the types of policies that are needed to link domestic firms to foreign investment in a beneficial way over time.

Tentative Agenda

Opening remarks

• Taikan Oki, Senior Vice-Rector, United Nations University (UNU)
• Yuko Yasunaga, Head, United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), Investment and Technology Promotion Office (ITPO) Japan

Keynote speech

• Fetlework Gebregziabher Abrha, Minister of Trade and Industry, Ethiopia

Session 1: FDI Attraction and Facilitation

Moderator

• Ferda Gelegen, UNIDO-ITPO Japan

Presentation

• Axel Berger, German Development Institute / Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik (DIE)

Discussants

• Manjiao Chi, University of International Business and Economics (UIBE)
• Yuko Yasunaga, UNIDO-ITPO Japan

Comments by participants

Session 2: Linking Domestic Firms to Foreign Investors

Moderator

• Ferda Gelegen, UNIDO-ITPO Japan

Presentation

• Adnan Seric, UNIDO

Discussants:

• Izumi Ohno, Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) Research Institute
• Dongsoo Kang, Korea Development Institute (KDI)
• Fukunari Kimura, Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia (ERIA)
• Yasuyuki Todo, Waseda University

Comments by participants

Wrap-up discussion and closing remarks