Government and corporate leaders, investment policymakers, investors, heads of investment promotion agencies, and academics from across the world will gather from September 6 to 9 in Xiamen, China for the World Investment Forum 2010, organized by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) to explore how to better take advantage of significant opportunities arising from the new phase of economic globalization to promote investment and sustainable development.

Held biennially, the forum aims to strengthen international cooperation in the interest of promoting international investment and its contribution to economic growth and development. The first WIF was held in Accra, Ghana, in April 2008.

WIF 2010 will take place at a time when the global economy appears to be on its way to recovery. The overarching theme will be "Investing in Sustainable Development". WIF 2010 will offer a unique platform for dialogue and interaction among policymakers, IPAs, corporations and other stakeholders, and provide information and insights that should prove useful for their decision-making.

The number of registered participants for the forum has exceeded 1,500, including representatives of bankers, governments, enterprises, international organizations, investment promotion agencies, and civil society from 120 territories. Nine heads of state, 50 foreign ministerial-rank officials, Chinese provincial chiefs, 114 corporate executives, 54 renowned experts and scholars, 24 principals of international organizations, and 169 heads of investment promotion agencies, as well as many other senior government officials and policymakers have confirmed their intent to join the forum.

The main events of the WIF 2010 include:

World Leaders Investment Summit

Government and corporate leaders from across the world will assess the challenges and the opportunities that they must deal with, faced with the aftermath of the global economic and financial crisis and the ever-growing imperatives of climate change. From their different perspectives, the leaders will discuss what governments can do to foster sustainable growth and employment through international investment, and what companies can do to ensure their contributions to a long-term and far-reaching development process in the countries in which they invest. Panellists will also consider how international investment can help both countries and corporations to win the new green race. The summit will provide participants with a rich, solutions-oriented discussion, drawing on the insights of the leading decision-makers present.

Questions to be addressed include:

o How can global FDI, economic growth and development be brought back on track?

o How does the new geography of foreign investment impact on development?

o How are companies revising their strategies to adapt to the changing competitive landscape in globalized industries?

o How do governments adjust their investment policies to strengthen regulatory oversight while promoting and facilitating FDI?

o How can countries and corporations work together to win the green race?

Ministerial Round Table

Ministers dealing with investment and leaders of international organizations will engage in a high-profile debate on today's challenges of ensuring coherence in investment policy-making, both nationally and internationally. The round table will provide for a sharing of visions, strategies and practical experiences in countering the threat of investment protectionism and in maximizing FDI-induced development outcomes through appropriate balancing between investment liberalisation and regulation, and ensuring policy coherence.

Questions to be addressed include:

o Which kind of regulatory and institutional frameworks are required to make sure that investment liberalization generates a maximum of development enhancing effects?

o How can incoherence among national and international investment-related policies be avoided and synergies enhanced to ensure that such policies contribute rather than undermine efforts towards achieving sustainable development?

o How can possible tendencies towards investment protectionism be effectively stemmed in the wake of the financial crisis?

o What positive and negative effects do international investment rules and policies have on domestic investment?

High Level Tripartite Conference

In three tripartite sessions, senior government officials, heads of investment promotion agencies and corporate executives will discuss prominent issues related to the trends and prospects of international investment, the emerging international production patterns of transnational corporations, and new investment promotion strategies.

The first session will address new international investment policy directions for developed and emerging economies. It will explore investment prospects in terms of entry modes, industrial patterns, and bright spots in the post-crisis environment.

The second session deals with new investment promotion strategies against the backdrop of changing FDI determinants, shifting TNC strategies, increased South-South FDI flows as well as reforms of global governance.

The third session explores opportunities in the promotion of green FDI in light of government commitments to combat climate change, the rise of green industries, and the advantages that environmentally friendly investment can bring in terms of improved knowledge transfer, reduced carbon emissions and upgraded productivity and competitive exports.

International Investment Agreements Conference 2010

The 2010 IIA Conference will have three thematic clusters that reflect the key development challenges facing the current international investment regime (consisting of over 5,980 international investment agreements at all levels) in generating tangible development benefits in the post-crisis investment landscape. These clusters concern (i) the interaction of the IIA regime with other key and emerging global policy areas such as international financial regulation, climate change and other public policies, (ii) the systemic evolution of the IIA regime and its new direction, and (iii) the resultant need for closer international cooperation and a more coordinated and collective approach in IIA matters.

Sustainable Stock Exchanges 2010

This executive dialogue will bring together CEOs of stock exchanges, large institutional investors and issuers, along with senior securities regulators, to examine how stock exchanges can promote sustainable business practices and responsible capital markets. The dialogue is co-organized by UNCTAD, the Global Compact and the Principles for Responsible Investment.

Session 1:

Viewing sustainability from a policy perspective: the role of capital markets.

This session examines the role key actors in capital markets can play to promote sustainable development. The session will review current best practices and highlight challenges and opportunities for the future.

This session will address the following questions: