UNCTAD has released a set of 11 guiding principles for investment policies alongside the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) and the Islamic Corporation for the Insurance of Investment and Export Credit, both belonging to the IsDB Group.

IsDB is a multilateral development bank working to bolster comprehensive progress in 57 countries across Africa, Asia, Europe and South America, as well as Muslim communities worldwide.

The principles will help guide policymaking and leverage investment as a driving force for inclusive growth and sustainable development in IsDB member nations.

“UNCTAD has been a leader in adopting a soft approach to reshaping the global investment environment through its guiding principles and action menus,” says James Zhan, UNCTAD’s director for investment and enterprise development.

“They help build global consensus on a new generation of investment policies, while allowing members to pursue the developmental priorities that are specific to them.”

IsDB’s director of cooperation and capacity development, Riad Ragueb, said: “We are certain that these principles will provide the necessary guidance for the member countries to develop their investment policies in order to achieve the goals of sustainable development and comprehensive growth.”

The principles stem from ongoing cooperation between UNCTAD and IsDB on issues related to international investment agreements.

They draw on UNCTAD’s investment policy framework for sustainable development and its reform package for the international investment regime.

The principles result from UNCTAD’s technical assistance and capacity-building programmes for IsDB member countries. It has since 2005 trained more than 600 government officials on key issues related to international investment policymaking.

Between 2016 and 2022, UNCTAD also facilitated the development and adoption of guiding principles on investment policymaking, benefiting 131 countries and regional integration groupings.

These include:

• The joint D-8 Organization for Economic Cooperation - UNCTAD Guiding Principles for Investment Policymaking (2020)
• The Joint African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States (ACP) - UNCTAD Guiding Principles for Investment Policymaking (2017)
• The G20 Guiding Principles for Global Investment Policymaking (2016)

Links:

Download the UNCTAD-IsDB guiding principles (advance copy)

Read the UNCTAD press release on the UNCTAD-IsDB guiding principles