Jeddah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, 30 April 2023 - The Islamic Development Bank (IsDB), the Islamic Corporation for the Investment of Insurance and Export Credit (ICIEC), and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) have released a set of Non-Binding Guiding Principles for Investment Policymaking to help develop a coherent, consciously designed and consolidated approach towards investment policymaking in the IsDB Group member countries (MCs).

The Guiding Principles provide guidance for investment policymaking with a view to promoting inclusive economic growth and sustainable development; promoting coherence in national and international investment policymaking; fostering an open, transparent, and conducive global policy environment for investment; and aligning investment promotion and facilitation policies with sustainable development goals (SDGs).

“UNCTAD has been a leader in adopting a soft approach to reshaping the global investment environment through its guiding principles and action menus,” says James Zhan, UNCTAD’s Director for Investment and Enterprise Development. “They help build global consensus on a new generation of investment policies while allowing members to pursue the developmental priorities that are specific to them.”

IsDB’s Director of Cooperation and Capacity Development Department, Riad Ragueb, states: “We are certain that these principles will provide the necessary guidance for the member countries to develop their investment policies in order to achieve the goals of sustainable development and comprehensive growth.”

The principles can be translated into national laws, regulations, and policy practices of individual countries. Their non-binding nature means countries can choose the principles to apply, offering a “soft approach” to global investment policymaking.

The Guiding Principles were developed as part of the joint UNCTAD-IsDB program on Investment Promotion and International Investment Policies.

IsDB, ICIEC, and  UNCTAD, through the IsDB Investment Promotion Technical Assistance Program (ITAP), have been cooperating on issues relating to international investment policies since 2005. The Cooperation has focused on organizing and delivering intensive regional workshops for the benefit of Government officials and Investment Promotion Agencies (IPAs) of IsDB MCs. As a result, 16 regional workshops have been jointly organized on investment protection, promotion, and facilitation. The workshops provided over 600 Government officials from IsDB MCs with the necessary tools and knowledge to review their investment policies to make them more supportive of sustainable development goals (SDGs).

Access link: https://www.isdb.org/publications/non-binding-guiding-principles-for-investment-policies