6th Edition APEC Investment Guidebook Release
The sixth triennial edition of the APEC Investment Guidebook has been revised to help improve investment transparency in the APEC Region.
Developed by the APEC Investment Experts Group (IEG) in conjunction with the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC), the Guidebook is primarily designed to assist potential investors in the APEC region.
2007 ABAC Chair, Mr. Mark Johnson said "As business representatives of APEC we strongly endorse the objective of improving transparency of investment policies and regulations in the region. Investment growth is fundamental to strong economic growth, job creation and prosperity, so ABAC is particularly pleased to have been able to cooperate with the IEG in preparing this edition of the Guidebook.
"Globalization and the proliferation of bilateral trade and investment agreements have increased the importance of accessible, accurate information to business people. To this end the Guidebook now includes numerous weblinks and contact details to enable direct access to current information and to relevant decision-makers where feasible."
Mr. Johnson said "We expect that the APEC Investment Guidebook will deepen business understanding of individual investment climates by providing clear, concise and relevant information to potential and existing investors.
"The Guidebook is also designed to address the policy makers who have the task of developing an attractive environment for foreign and domestic private sector investors. It will help APEC Member Economies to develop comparative frameworks for evaluating the quality of policies that can enhance investment opportunities."
Mr. Johnson also noted that "The Guidebook will enhance APEC Member Economies' efforts in identifying where improvements are required to attract broader and deeper capital flows."
"Investors and policy makers continue to see further benefits and challenges as bilateral trade and investment agreements increase across the region. The Guidebook provides useful analysis of these growing issues and on investment trends in the region."
ABAC plays an important role in APEC's operations and has made a very positive contribution to the region's investment environment by developing several check-lists for the public and private sectors. As examples, one of these checklists deals with goals and best practices for economies to use in assessing the quality of financial and other service offerings in the WTO Doha negotiations, while another proposes policies to remove barriers and impediments to FDI in APEC economies.