Why should EPAs include rules related to investment?
Asia and Latin America are channelling foreign investment into the infrastructure and job creation their developing economies need. The October 2006 UNCTAD report on global investment in developing countries highlighted the extent to which Sub Saharan Africa in particular is falling far behind the rest of the developing world in attracting the foreign investment that is vital for development. Africa in particular is trapped by barriers to inward investment, nationalised industrial fiefdoms and fractured regional markets. Africa’s own investors choose to invest outside of the continent. One of the key ambitions of the Economic Partnership Agreements is precisely the creation of integrated regional markets that will help attract inward investment and keep African investment from flying abroad. The EU is prepared to help improving conditions in these economies for inward investment: clearer rules and rights for all companies. Policy frameworks at regional level will further help consolida
