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Report of the meeting held August 21–23, 2018 in Johannesburg, South Africa

The Secretariat of the Southern African Development Community (SADC Secretariat), in collaboration with the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD), hosted the SADC Workshop on Facilitating Investment for Sustainable Development in Johannesburg, South Africa, from August 21 to 23, 2018. Nearly 40 participants attended the workshop, including more than 30 government officials representing 13 SADC member states.

The workshop was the first meeting on the issue of investment facilitation held at the SADC regional level and, to the best knowledge of all of the participants and experts, the first meeting of developing country government representatives to actually focus on discussing the detailed issues relating to the concept and implementation of facilitating investment for sustainable development.

At the meeting, the participants undertook a detailed analysis of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) Global Action Menu for Investment Facilitation.

The participants concluded that facilitating investment for sustainable development requires measures that enhance and work with, and thus primarily within, the national institutional and regulatory frameworks that are needed to achieve the public policy objectives associated with foreign direct investment.

More specifically, they rejected the need for international or regional regulatory measures in relation to facilitating investment for sustainable development. Instead, they looked for opportunities for capacity building, information sharing and cooperative processes that can enhance policies, practices and legal provisions at the national level.