Given the globalized nature of trade and investment and the increasingly internationalized standards of financial trade and investment regulatory frameworks, the legal training workshop aims to effectively support practitioners from the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) in developing and regularizing a governing framework in trade and investment promotion, energy development, environmental protection and transport and tourism infrastructure development.
ESCAP has been conducting training programmes that integrate DPRK officials into regional and subregional development cooperation forums and support national initiatives in various areas.
DPRK established the Rason Economic and Trade Zone in 1991 and amended their constitution in 1992 to allow foreign investment in special economic zones. Since then, the country has established five special economic zones under the central government and 19 provincial economic development zones to mobilize foreign investment.
Amongst the special economic zones, each zone has different legal regulations and structures for foreign investment which hinders the creation of a consistent legal regime for foreign investment. However, DPRK has amended their foreign investment laws constantly within the past decade in an attempt to regularize their governing framework to attract more foreign direct investment and to improve investor confidence.