Investment for Sustainable Development: Views from the Global South

At the 9th Annual Forum of Developing Country Investment Negotiators, which took place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in November 2015, negotiators and policy-makers from some 50 developing countries expressed their desire to develop a set of principles on investment from a developing country perspective, building on the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development’s (UNCTAD) Investment Policy Framework for Sustainable Development. In response, a preliminary draft of a set of South–South Principles on International Investment for Sustainable Development was developed based on several consultation rounds. The draft was presented and discussed at the 10th Annual Forum of Developing Country Investment Negotiators held in Colombo, Sri Lanka in November 2016. Thereafter, a revised draft was developed and circulated to forum participants and intergovernmental organizations. After additional consultations with developing country governments as well as regional and international organizations, a more advanced document was prepared to represent a consolidated view of developing countries on investment policy.

In the consultations, countries stressed the importance for developing countries to receive quality investment and acknowledged the usefulness of a concerted effort to develop international policies to maximize the positive contribution investment can make to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This brief presents the priorities for investment policy-making from a developing country perspective.