Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
09GENEVA262
2009-03-30 06:00:00
UNCLASSIFIED
US Mission Geneva
Cable title:
UNCTAD INVESTMENT DATABASES - MONITORING TRENDS GLOBALLY IN
how-toVZCZCXRO3313 RR RUEHAG RUEHBZ RUEHGI RUEHMR RUEHPA RUEHPB RUEHPOD DE RUEHGV #0262 0890600 ZNR UUUUU ZZH R 300600Z MAR 09 FM USMISSION GENEVA TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 8217 INFO RUCNWTO/WORLD TRADE ORGANIZATION COLLECTIVE RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 2992 RUEHBS/USEU BRUSSELS
UNCLAS GENEVA 000262
SIPDIS
STATE FOR IO/EDA AND EB/IFD/OIA
USUN for JLAWRENCE
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: EINV ECON UNCTAD
SUBJECT: UNCTAD INVESTMENT DATABASES - MONITORING TRENDS GLOBALLY IN
DIRECT FOREIGN INVESTMENT
UNCLAS GENEVA 000262
SIPDIS
STATE FOR IO/EDA AND EB/IFD/OIA
USUN for JLAWRENCE
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: EINV ECON UNCTAD
SUBJECT: UNCTAD INVESTMENT DATABASES - MONITORING TRENDS GLOBALLY IN
DIRECT FOREIGN INVESTMENT
1. Summary: The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development
(UNCTAD) includes a 90 person division devoted to research on direct
foreign investment and the operations of transnational corporations
(TNC). The Division's annual flagship report, the World Investment
Report, is one of the most comprehensive sources for comparable
country data on investment: flows, policies, and agreements and for
comparable data on TNC operations by country and sector. End
summary.
DATABASES
--------------
2. UNCTAD's Investment Division, with 90 staff members, monitors
worldwide statistics and trends concerning direct foreign investment
and the operations of transnational corporations. Twenty five of
the division's staff maintain and update the division's four unique
databases which contain comparable country data for the 192 UN
member states, plus economies such as Hong Kong, Taiwan, and the
Cayman Islands. The first database contains information on foreign
investment flows tracking inward and outward investment by industry
and country. The second database contains information on TNC
operations tracking firm level employment, tax revenues, sales,
exports, etc., by country and industry. The third database contains
information on foreign investment policies. The final database
contains information on investment agreements (there are over 5,000)
and investor-state disputes.
3. According to James Zhan, Officer in Charge of the Investment
Division, the barrier to entry for this type of data collection and
analysis is extremely high. UNCTAD has been doing research and
analysis focused on direct foreign investment and TNCs for more than
thirty years, and has a well established focal point for data
collection in every country and economy.
4. Data is collected by UNCTAD in accordance with each country's
financial reporting practices. UNCTAD staff then process the data
according to international standards, to make it comparable across
countries and sectors. This effort requires great expertise and
familiarity with each country's data. For example, regarding outward
investment from China, the Chinese Foreign Exchange Bureau and
Chinese Ministry of Commerce collect different data. UNCTAD must
consolidate and verify that data and then compare it with the EU and
US inflow data to determine if the amounts are accurate. After
UNCTAD does this analysis, it provides the statistics back to the
GOC, which revises its official data to match the UNCTAD data.
Across developing countries the treatment of inter-firm loans,
reinvested earnings and equity flows, differs and must be accounted
for to make the data comparable. UNCTAD has a team of twenty staff
writing the annual World Investment Report. Through their research
and analysis, they provide an additional source to confirm or
correct the UNCTAD data.
WORLD INVESTMENT REPORT
--------------
5. UNCTAD has been producing the World Investment Report since 1991.
That report, drawing on UNCTAD's databases, analyzes trends in
direct foreign investment and operations of TNCs. Unlike the
Globalization division in UNCTAD, which has a mandate to be
independent and "ahead of the curve," which it often flaunts in its
provocative flagship "Trade and Development Report," the Investment
Division aims to be mainstream and to define consensus views on
investment policy.
COOPERATION WITH OECD
--------------
6. In June 2007, Heads of State and Government meeting at the G8
Summit in Heiligendamm, Germany, invited UNCTAD and the OECD to
jointly engage industrialized countries, emerging economies and
developing countries in the development of best practices for
creating an institutional environment conducive to increased foreign
investment and sustainable development. UNCTAD's investment
division regularly works with OECD counterparts on a variety of
issues such as enterprise development, entrepreneurship and the
global value chain.
STORELLA
SIPDIS
STATE FOR IO/EDA AND EB/IFD/OIA
USUN for JLAWRENCE
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: EINV ECON UNCTAD
SUBJECT: UNCTAD INVESTMENT DATABASES - MONITORING TRENDS GLOBALLY IN
DIRECT FOREIGN INVESTMENT
1. Summary: The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development
(UNCTAD) includes a 90 person division devoted to research on direct
foreign investment and the operations of transnational corporations
(TNC). The Division's annual flagship report, the World Investment
Report, is one of the most comprehensive sources for comparable
country data on investment: flows, policies, and agreements and for
comparable data on TNC operations by country and sector. End
summary.
DATABASES
--------------
2. UNCTAD's Investment Division, with 90 staff members, monitors
worldwide statistics and trends concerning direct foreign investment
and the operations of transnational corporations. Twenty five of
the division's staff maintain and update the division's four unique
databases which contain comparable country data for the 192 UN
member states, plus economies such as Hong Kong, Taiwan, and the
Cayman Islands. The first database contains information on foreign
investment flows tracking inward and outward investment by industry
and country. The second database contains information on TNC
operations tracking firm level employment, tax revenues, sales,
exports, etc., by country and industry. The third database contains
information on foreign investment policies. The final database
contains information on investment agreements (there are over 5,000)
and investor-state disputes.
3. According to James Zhan, Officer in Charge of the Investment
Division, the barrier to entry for this type of data collection and
analysis is extremely high. UNCTAD has been doing research and
analysis focused on direct foreign investment and TNCs for more than
thirty years, and has a well established focal point for data
collection in every country and economy.
4. Data is collected by UNCTAD in accordance with each country's
financial reporting practices. UNCTAD staff then process the data
according to international standards, to make it comparable across
countries and sectors. This effort requires great expertise and
familiarity with each country's data. For example, regarding outward
investment from China, the Chinese Foreign Exchange Bureau and
Chinese Ministry of Commerce collect different data. UNCTAD must
consolidate and verify that data and then compare it with the EU and
US inflow data to determine if the amounts are accurate. After
UNCTAD does this analysis, it provides the statistics back to the
GOC, which revises its official data to match the UNCTAD data.
Across developing countries the treatment of inter-firm loans,
reinvested earnings and equity flows, differs and must be accounted
for to make the data comparable. UNCTAD has a team of twenty staff
writing the annual World Investment Report. Through their research
and analysis, they provide an additional source to confirm or
correct the UNCTAD data.
WORLD INVESTMENT REPORT
--------------
5. UNCTAD has been producing the World Investment Report since 1991.
That report, drawing on UNCTAD's databases, analyzes trends in
direct foreign investment and operations of TNCs. Unlike the
Globalization division in UNCTAD, which has a mandate to be
independent and "ahead of the curve," which it often flaunts in its
provocative flagship "Trade and Development Report," the Investment
Division aims to be mainstream and to define consensus views on
investment policy.
COOPERATION WITH OECD
--------------
6. In June 2007, Heads of State and Government meeting at the G8
Summit in Heiligendamm, Germany, invited UNCTAD and the OECD to
jointly engage industrialized countries, emerging economies and
developing countries in the development of best practices for
creating an institutional environment conducive to increased foreign
investment and sustainable development. UNCTAD's investment
division regularly works with OECD counterparts on a variety of
issues such as enterprise development, entrepreneurship and the
global value chain.
STORELLA