(c) Mobilization of domestic and foreign direct investment in Africa through investment and technology promotion activities and cooperation with other United Nations agencies and financial institutions

Singapore has engaged in a greater amount of OFDI through its indigenous enterprises, than have other developing countries.

FDI is negligible in primary activities and low in manufacturing. An exception is Mexico, from which relatively more outward FDI has been in manufacturing.

Greenfield activities are preferred because of the financial position and the scale of overseas operations of SMEs, which are relatively smaller.

In paragraph 58 of its report, the Board encouraged the Pension Fund to strengthen controls of the accounting function and the reporting of investment activity.

Many experts emphasized that, in light of the shift towards more knowledge based activities and increased internationalization of innovation activities, policy making aimed at attracting and benefiting from FDI in R D needs to treat the two policy areas in a holistic and coherent way.

A significant portion of this growth can be attributed to FDI activities in Asia Pacific region and Central and Eastern Europe.

Some found them useful in attracting investment in R D in a host country by pioneer firms, who would later be followed by their competitors.

To do that, they have to complement FDI in R D with efforts by local public institutions and the private sector.

The Commission welcomes the information provided in the DITE Activities Report 2004 and would like to see it continued as a regular feature.

Apart from these GLCs under the stewardship of Temasek Holdings in spearheading OFDI from Singapore, three government agencies are also strategically important in promoting OFDI from Singapore

Another round of global stimulus after the downturn is over or nearly so would push world interest rates up and drive investment activity down.

On the contrary, there is some evidence that beneficiary households increased their participation in microenterprise activities and made larger investments in agricultural production activities.

More recently, however, some countries such as Brazil have begun to attract increasing FDI in R D oriented towards global applications (for instance in the case of R D in automobile components).

Leading problems faced by developing countries, especially least developed countries, in compiling statistics on FDI flows and stocks and on the activities of TNCs

Rather than securing investment for productive sectors of the economy, the financial industry has become adept at securing investment in itself.

There is a huge impact when poor people have access to a broad range of financial services that enable them to invest in income producing activities and to help meet vital needs such as health, education and nutrition.

Front loaded public investment could be funded through an enhanced European Investment Bank.

As mentioned above, these flows not only sustain consumption in home countries but also support investment activities and lead to higher output growth.

Investment policies should extend to both domestic and foreign direct investment.

Stronger safety net programs might reduce the need for precautionary savings in the future, but such reforms cannot be accomplished overnight.

The role of home country policies in encouraging TNCs to invest in R D in developing countries and thus bringing benefits to these countries was also addressed.

The case of Mexicali, in Mexico, which was diversifying into attracting FDI in research and development activities clustered around its core base of investors in manufacturing, was highlighted.

But would good opportunities for state investment be similarly renewed? Might the uncertainties raised by entering into such unknown territory exact a serious toll on private investment activity?

In accordance with its agenda, the Expert Meeting on the Impact of FDI on Development discussed the globalization of research and development (R D) by transnational corporations (TNCs) and its implications for developing countries.

Europe wants to preserve its universal banking model, with banks that serve a broad range of functions, ranging from taking deposits to making small commercial loans to high level investment banking activities.

While the survey did not capture the profitability indicator, an increase in revenues as a result of OFDI activities for enterprises highlighted in table 3 deserves mentioning.

Too Much Saving, Too Little Investment

Investment suffered.

Profitability index (PI), also known as profit investment ratio (PIR) and value investment ratio (VIR), is the ratio of payoff to investment of a proposed project.

There was general agreement among experts that active policies by Governments could play a leading role in creating and facilitating the right conditions to attract and benefit from FDI in R D.

The representative of Egypt, speaking on behalf of the African Group, expressed appreciation for the 2004 Activities Report of the Division on Investment, Technology and Enterprise Development, which referred to projects implemented in 46 African countries, and thanked UNCTAD for the quality of its work and the results achieved.

In fact, capital inflows can make things worse, because they tend to appreciate the domestic currency and make production in export activities less profitable, further weakening the incentive to invest.

It was argued that an IPA needs to be well embedded in the overall system of national innovation and that promotion activities should be aligned with a country's overall development and innovation strategy.

Additionally, young people highlight the need to invest in entrepreneurial activities for rural youth, e.g., by creating a fund for young rural entrepreneurs.

Invest in capacity development of key ministries so that the civil service will be better able to support and advise the incoming government, and promote administrative reform activities that would include civil service reform and decentralization.

Such FDI policies include investment subsidies, tax abatements, and exemptions from domestic regulation and laws.

Beware of FDI Protectionism

The Government would be following up on the implementation of the recommendations of the IPR, which related to modernizing the FDI entry regime, strengthening Board of Investment (BOI) core functions and reforming the tax regime on investment.

OFDI by Singapore SMEs is in most cases through greenfield and joint venture activities rather than cross border M As because of their financial positions and scale of their operations.

The flow of FDI should not only target specific sectors, but also aim at reaching stream activities which could result in a stronger manufacturing and industrial sector in those countries.

When fully functional, the Slum Upgrading Facility will provide follow up assistance to ongoing pre investment activities carried out under the Programme's technical cooperation activities (see paras. 17 22, below).

The ICSID and its jurisprudence thus became a central part of international investment law and policy.

The representative of Afghanistan underscored that institutional reforms to promote predictability and transparency in the investment area had been put in place in his country, and an IPR under an Invest in Peace type of initiative could help his country to pursue reforms and adjustments to attract FDI.

The panellist from Pakistan gave an overview of his country's investment climate, pointing to sectors in which investment had occurred and those in which more investment was needed.