Global foreign direct investment (FDI) is being reshaped by powerful mega-drivers, ranging from shifting U.S. trade, tax and security policies to rapid technological change, intensifying geopolitical tensions, and the growing imperative of sustainability. These forces are influencing overarching corporate strategies, restructuring international production networks and transforming the direction of FDI flows.
Governments in both advanced and developing countries are responding with new policies including industrial strategies designed both to attract foreign investment and to advance prosperity, security and sustainability goals.
The global investment treaties’ regime is being reshaped raising critical questions for international business and the broader architecture of global economic governance.
Key questions to be explored include:
- How are geopolitical, technological, environmental and demographic trends shaping FDI decisions?
- Will the fragmentation of global value chains affect the profitability and innovation capacity of multinational enterprises?
- What do governments need to do to ensure FDI delivers domestic value creation, employment opportunities, green transformation and technological progress?
- What principles should anchor a reformed global investment regime, including its interaction with regional trade agreements and dispute settlement?
