United Nations Conference on Trade and Development

The 2019 edition of the World Investment Report focuses on special economic zones (SEZs) which are widely used across most developing and many developed economies. Although the performance of many zones remains below expectations, the rate of establishment of new zones is accelerating as governments increasingly compete for internationally mobile industrial activity. Policymakers face not only the traditional challenges to making SEZs succeed, including the need for strategic focus, sound governance models, and effective investment promotion tools, but also new challenges brought about by the sustainable development imperative, the new industrial revolution, and changing patterns of international production. The Report explores the place of SEZs in today’s global investment landscape and provides guidance for policymakers on how to make SEZs work for sustainable development. It presents international investment trends and prospects at global, regional and national levels, as well as the evolution of international production and global value chains. It analyses the latest developments in new policy measures for investment promotion, facilitation and regulation around the world, as well as updates on investment treaties, their reform and investment dispute settlement cases.

Special Economic Zones

World Investment Report 2019

The UNCTAD Investment Policy Reviews are intended to help countries improve their investment policies and to familiarise Governments and the international private sector with an individual country's investment environment. The reviews are considered by the UNCTAD Commission on Investment Technology and Related Financial Issues. The Review is divided into four chapters with annexes. The chapters look at the following areas: FDI trends and impact; the investment framework; attracting FDI in electricity; main conclusions and recommendations. The annexes look at investment promotion and facilitation and included tables, figures and boxes.

Viet Nam

Investment Policy Review

Hisham M. Awartani

The Agricultural Sector of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip

Prospects for Sustained Development of the Palestinian Economy in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip

The Palestinian Economy and Prospects for Regional Cooperation

Robert Scollay

Fourteen of the world's smallest and most vulnerable economies - the Forum Island Countries (FICs) of the Pacific island region - are in the process of forming themselves into a free trade area (FTA). This paper reviews the characteristics of the Forum Island Countries (FICs) and their external trade and assesses the benefits and costs of the proposed FTA.

The Case of the Pacific Islands' Proposed Free Trade Agreement

Regional Trade Agreements and Developing Countries

Handbook of International Trade and Development Statistics

The Information Economy Report 2008 - Science and technology for development: the new paradigm of ICT, analyses the current and potential contribution of information technology to knowledge creation and diffusion. It explores how ICTs help generate innovations that improve the livelihoods of the poor and support enterprise competitiveness. The report examines how ICTs affect productivity and growth and reflects on the need for a development-oriented approach to intellectual property rights in order to enable effective access to technology. ICT has also given rise to new models for sharing knowledge and collective production.

Science and Technology for Development : the New Paradigm of ICT

Information Economy Report 2007-2008

The Review of Maritime Transport (RMT) has been published annually since 1968. The flagship report provides an analysis of structural and cyclical changes affecting seaborne trade, ports and shipping, as well as an extensive collection of statistics. Around 80% of the volume of international trade in goods is carried by sea, and the percentage is even higher for most developing countries. The 2022 RMT covers recent developments in maritime logistics related to the Covid-19 pandemic, the war in Ukraine, and a special chapter on consolidation and competition issues in container shipping.

Navigating Stormy Waters

Review of Maritime Transport

Selected studies submitted to the Special Committee on Preferences.

Operation and Effects of the Generalized System of Preferences

United Nations. Division for the Advancement of Women

This annual report examines changing trends in foreign direct investment (FDI) flows worldwide, at the regional and country levels and emerging measures to improve its contribution to development. The 2006 report highlights the changing role of developing countries and transition economies in global foreign direct investment and the international production system. It examines their emergence as significant sources of foreign direct investment as well as the underlying factors and broader implications.

From Words to Action

Ending Violence Against Women

The present edition of the Report provides unique data on the adoption of ICT by enterprises in developing countries. It also explores ICT policy options in a developing-country context and proposes a framework for national ICT policy reviews and for the design and assessment of pro-poor e-strategies. The Report's analysis of trends in core ICT indicators such as the use of Internet and mobile phone, as well as the role of broadband in promoting the information economy, concludes that the diffusion of ICT in developing countries still needs government intervention in areas where private providers might be discouraged to go because of costs associated to geographic hurdles or the absence of a critical mass of customers. Publishing Agency: United Nations (UN).

The Development Perspective

Information Economy Report 2006

DRES User's Guide

OECD

Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean

The Dominican Republic, though the fastest-growing economy in Latin America and the Caribbean since 2010, cannot afford complacency. The COVID-19 crisis may accelerate existing global trends that created the need for reforms addressing structural weaknesses that lurked beneath the surface well before the pandemic. The Production Transformation Policy Review (PTPR) of the Dominican Republic identifies priority reforms to update the national strategy, with perspectives on agro-food and nearshoring.

Preserving Growth, Achieving Resilience

OECD Development Pathways Production Transformation Policy Review of the Dominican Republic Preserving Growth, Achieving Resilience

Foreign Direct Investment, Legal Framework and Corporate Data. Africa

World Investment Directory 1996

John Whalley

This paper discusses the results from the general equilibrium trade models executed towards the end of the Uruguay Round, reporting both aggregate and regional gains. The paper argues that there are substantial inconsistencies across model results which are sometimes hard to explain. One model shows most of the gains come from agricultural liberalisation, another from textiles, and yet another from tariff cuts. One model shows developing countries account for around 10 per cent of the total gain, another shows them to gain over 50 per cent. Other differences are also shown. Differences occur even when similar data sets and benchmark years are used, and are hard to explain on the basis of the parametric specifications for the models, although these are frequently poorly described. The paper also discusses the verification of models relative to behaviour since the Round concluded, expressing scepticism as to its feasibility. The implications for the developing countries and possible ways of making these models more usable for developing countries for the next round of trade negotiations are also discussed.

United Nations Conference on Trade and Development

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