The WIR at 30: Contributions to National and Global Investment Policymaking

UNCTAD’s World Investment Report (WIR) focusses on development-oriented questions related to the interaction between multinational enterprises (MNEs) and governments. It does that with a view toward developing policy recommendations to maximize the positive impact of foreign direct investment and MNE activities on host countries and minimize any negative impacts. This article examines the reason for this focus and approach, as well as a number of related issues, and evaluates how successful UNCTAD has been in pursuing it.