Investment and entrepreneurship for development

The Investment, Enterprise and Development Commission,

1. Notes with concern that foreign direct investment flows have not yet recovered to pre-crisis levels and declined significantly both in developed and developing regions while investment remained the major source of financing for development;
    
2. Requests the secretariat to continue to analyse the most recent global trends and policies in the area of investment and enterprise for development and calls on the secretariat to continue reporting and monitoring those trends and their impact on development;
    
3. Acknowledges the policy frameworks of UNCTAD in investment and enterprise for sustainable development, for example the Investment Policy Framework for Sustainable Development, the Action Plan for Investing in the Sustainable Development Goals, the Reform Package for the International Investment Regime, the Entrepreneurship Policy Framework and the Accounting Development Tool; and encourages UNCTAD to further promote their use with a view to enabling investment for sustainable development;
    
4. Acknowledges the role of the investment policy reviews and the follow-up implementation as an essential tool to support countries’ progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals and congratulates Cabo Verde and Lebanon for the successful intergovernmental deliberation of their investment policy reviews. Requests the secretariat to continue presenting the reviews in an intergovernmental context to further the exchange of best practices and calls on partners to financially support the programme;
    
5. Calls upon the secretariat to further assist member States with their strategies, policies, tools and sharing of best practices to promote and facilitate investment, particularly foreign direct investment in support to development, including through its work on international investment agreements, investment promotion and facilitation, investment guides and business facilitation programme;
    
6. Commends the in-depth policy research and analysis conducted by the UNCTAD secretariat on investment and enterprise development and its innovative work on emerging issues, including the World Investment Report, and looks forward to the 2019 Report and its widest dissemination;
    
7. Reiterates the importance of foreign direct investment and private sector development in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, as well as the pivotal role of the World Investment Forum in providing a universal and inclusive platform for addressing key and emerging challenges for sustainable development;
    
8. Encourages further cooperation with relevant United Nations regional commissions with regard to public–private partnership as a means to support investment and enterprise for development;
    
9. Commends the existing work on investment agreements and investment policies that promotes a better understanding of issues related to international investment agreements and their development dimensions and encourages the UNCTAD secretariat to continue to holistically undertake issues related to such agreements, including its existing programme of meetings and consultations with member States;
    
10. Commends the UNCTAD secretariat for organizing a very successful World Investment Forum 2018 and welcomes with appreciation its outcomes and stresses their relevance for financing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Acknowledges the importance of continuous dialogue between the international community and private business on the matter of investing in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals;
     
11. Underscores the important role of the Ambassadors’ round table on investing in the Sustainable Development Goals as a platform for connecting all Geneva-based international organizations, the private sector and civil society on the matter of Sustainable Development Goal financing and investment and encourages the UNCTAD secretariat to take concrete steps, in consultation with member States, in order to facilitate such a process before the eleventh session of the Investment, Enterprise and Development Commission in 2019;
     
12. Reiterates that entrepreneurship is one of the most important drivers of job creation, economic growth and inclusive development and takes note of the draft resolution on entrepreneurship in support of sustainable development before the General Assembly (A/C.2/73/L.35/Rev.1)[1] and of the specific mention made of the Empretec Programme therein, and welcomes the development of entrepreneurship development strategies targeted to special population groups, such as women, youth and young people, and requests the secretariat to continue the implementation and strengthening of related capacity-building programmes, including the Empretec and Business Linkages programmes and encourages partners, in a position to do so, to financially support these programmes.

 

         [1]   Adopted by the General Assembly on 20 December 2018 as resolution 73/225 on entrepreneurship for sustainable development.