SFU Business Adds Voice to U.N. Symposium on International Investment for Development
Mar 25, 2010
Daniel Shapiro, Dean of the Faculty of Business Administration at Simon Fraser University, was part of a United Nations-assembled global collective of academics and policymakers intent on setting a revitalized agenda for research and policy in the realm of foreign investment last week.
The first UNCTAD Symposium on International Investment for Development, held in Geneva from March 15 to 16, has been established at a time when global capital flows and their relationship to economic development are receiving unprecedented attention. The overarching theme of the 2010 Symposium was “Setting the Agenda for Policy-orientated Research”.
The invitation-only forum discussed a wide-range of topics, including foreign direct investment (FDI), the role of institutions within developing countries that attract sustainable development, and the role of international investment in areas such as agriculture, climate change, and poverty reduction.
“There have been large changes in the external environment from the economic emergence of China and India, to climate change, to the global financial crisis,” said Shapiro, who has an extensive research background in the area of foreign direct investment and FDI flows. “This changes our understanding of how foreign investment contributes to development.”
Another emerging theme within the realm of foreign investment is that of social innovation and social entrepreneurship – with some companies engaging in business activities abroad tthat are both sustainable and help development in emerging markets.
The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, which hosted the symposium, is the principal arm of the United Nations General Assembly dealing with trade, investment, and development issues. UNCTAD and the academic community have had a long history of working together on research and publications.
It annually publishes the World Investment Report, the highlights of which can be viewed online at http://www.unctad.org/WIR