Introduction

All countries seek to attract foreign direct investment (FDI) to advance their economic growth and development. This is so not only because FDI involves much sought-after capital (and the finance gap to reach the Sustainable Development Goals is substantial), but also because FDI can bring a package of tangible and intangible assets, such as technology, skills and access to markets, that are central to development. 

In this context, 70 WTO members endorsed a "Joint Ministerial Statement on Investment Facilitation for Development" during their Buenos Aires Ministerial Conference in December 2017 to initiate "structured discussions with the aim of developing a multilateral framework on investment facilitation".

Footnotes omitted from this introduction.