June 14, 2022
On June 8, 2022, FDI Center’s Managing Director, Andreas Dressler, moderated two panels at the OECD’s “Strengthening sustainable investment policies: FDI Qualities Ministerial Council Meeting” in Paris. The focus of this event was on how sustainable investment policies can support the COVID-19 recovery, advance the 2030 agenda on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Paris Agreement on climate change, and help to secure livelihoods for future generations.
The first panel focused on identifying opportunities to boost sustainable investment. Joining Andreas in this high level panel discussion were: Mario Marcel, Minister of Finance for Chile; Felix Mutati, Minister of Technology and Science for Zambia; Khairy Amr, Minister of Investment for Jordan; Anabel González, Deputy Director General for the WTO; Albert Muchanga, Commissioner for Economic Development, Trade, Tourism, Industry, and Minerals for the African Union; João Neves, Secretary of State for the Economy for Portugal, and; Arancha González Laya, Dean of the Paris School of International Affairs.
Subsequently, the second panel focused on the implementation of the OECD’s FDI Qualities Roadmap. For this panel, Andreas was joined by: Whitney Baird, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for the Bureau of Economic and Business Affairs for the U.S. Department of State; Ralf van de Beek, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands and Chair of the FDI Qualities Policy Network; Pasi-Heikki Vaaranmaa, Director of Trade Policy Unit for the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland, and; Rick Johnston, Managing Director for Global Government Affairs, Citi and Chairman of Business at OECD (BIAC).
The two panels covered a range of topics reflecting the importance of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in achieving the SDGs and the prerequisites for governments around the world to implement policies that support sustainable FDI. Moreover, our key takeaways and implications from the event can be read in our thought piece on our insights page.
