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Role of Regional Cooperation: Business Sector Development and South-South Investment. Studies in Trade and Investment 63.
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| Author(s):
Trade and Investment Division (TID)
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| Economic Sector(s):
N/A |
| ESCAP Reference
No.: ST/ESCAP/2477 |
| Division/Office:
Trade and Investment |
| Published Date:
January 2008 |
| Country:
{Non-country Specific Publication} |
| Hard Copy Price:
US$ 18.00
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| This publication of the ESCAP Studies in Trade and Investment contains two papers that examine emerging issues in the field of business development among the developing Asia-Pacific countries and suggest some possibilities for regional cooperation in Asia and the Pacific. Those issues, the improvement of the business climate and the growth of the regional south-south investment, reflect an important part of the present interests of the Investment and Enterprise Development Section, Trade and Investment Division, ESCAP, and thus indicate the direction of its future work.
The first paper explores a role for regional (and subregional) cooperation in support of pro-business regulatory reform in Asia and the Pacific, and recommends some specific areas to explore further by the developing countries and donor agencies, where specific technical assistance must be provided to support such reform. The paper suggests to seek robust modalities of regional cooperation to support reform efforts across all or parts of Asia. Its conclusions present broad suggestions and hypotheses on likely fruitful areas for future regional cooperation initiatives, namely: 1) Intra-UN regional cooperation; 2) donor coordination; 3) regional forum and network; 4) training programme; 5) capacity building for national stakeholders; 6) support for sub-national agencies; and 7) regional diagnostic on the key regulatory constraints to trade and investment.
More and more developing countries in Asia are investing larger amounts of capital in other developing countries. The second paper provides an overview of the current trend of increasing south-south foreign direct investment (FDI) flows in Asia, specifically South, East and South-East Asia, as well as current policies and strategies related to inward and outward FDI. The paper also explores whether different impacts can be expected from South-South investment as compared to more traditional North-South FDI. Based on the findings, the paper presents some policy implications for developing countries aiming to better leverage FDI for sustainable development, and suggests a possible role of transnational corporations (TNCs) in this process. The paper concludes by examining contributions that regional cooperation could make to realize the benefits of FDI.
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reform 
