Investment is the foundation of economic activity and a necessary prerequisite to innovation, growth of manufacturing and trade.
In 1993, APEC leaders welcomed the report presented by the APEC Eminent Persons Group, which recommended for APEC to “adopt an Asia-Pacific Investment Code to reduce the uncertainties and transaction costs of trade and investment in the region.” Immediately after, leaders instructed the Committee on Trade and Investment (CTI) to develop a set of nonbinding investment principles.
In 1994, the CTI established the Investment Experts’ Group (IEG) to fulfill this task. . The IEG developed the Non-Binding Investment Principles, which were endorsed by APEC leaders in Jakarta in 1994. As a CTI sub-forum, the IEG has worked to enhance liberalization and facilitation of investment, as well as strengthen member economies’ capacity building through economic and technical cooperation.
Bearing in mind the goal of economic development and prosperity of people across the APEC region, the objectives of the IEG are as follows:
- To undertake work related to investment and report its outcomes to the CTI
- To address issues related to investment and to enhance the liberalization and facilitation of investment in the APEC region
- To enhance capacity building in the area of investment through economic and technical cooperation among member economies in the APEC region
- To support investment promotion activities of member economies to facilitate investment flows in the region
Based on these objectives, the IEG reaffirms two principal pillars of its work as follows:
- International investment regime—principles and practices. This pillar looks at various investment issues and challenges from the perspective of international instruments such as International Investment Agreements (IIAs).
- Investment promotion, facilitation and retention, such as continuing the work on the Investment Facilitation Action Plan (IFAP), Investment Policy Dialogue (IPD), Investment Promotion Agency (IPA), best practice discussions and other crosscutting issues such as global value chains (GVC), public-private partnerships (PPP) and infrastructure.
APEC Non-Binding Investment Principles (NBIPs)
The APEC Non-Binding Investment Principles (NBIPs) demonstrate APEC’s commitment to promoting investment and addressing challenges posed by a rapidly evolving business environment. The NBIPs, originally endorsed in 1994, were successfully revised in 2011.
Investment Facilitation Action Plan
In 2008, APEC Ministers endorsed an Investment Facilitation Action Plan (IFAP) that is aimed at strengthening the competitiveness and sustainability of economic growth of APEC’s member economies and making further progress towards achievement of the Bogor Goals. The IFAP includes a comprehensive prescription of actions that can be taken across a range of policy areas and has served as a valuable reference tool for the improvement of the APEC investment climate. The IEG has reviewed the action plan’s implementation progress and published five reports in 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019 and 2023.
In 2025, the IFAP was upgraded to align with APEC’s current policy objectives under the Putrajaya Vision 2040 and the Aotearoa Plan of Action. The updated framework emphasises investment facilitation measures that incorporate digitalisation, inclusivity, and sustainability, while reinforcing transparency and reducing barriers to investment to promote the flow of quality investment. According to the Work Programme for Implementing the upgraded IFAP, the IEG will oversee its implementation.
Last page update: January 2026
Contacts
Legal Advisor, Investment, Services and Digital Economy Department
Undersecretariat for International Economic Relations
Chile
Program Director
Current Activities
The Latest IEG Meeting
The Investment Experts’ Group (IEG) held its second meeting for 2025 (IEG2) on 7–8 August in Incheon, Korea. The meeting was attended in person by delegates from 17 member economies, one guest economy (Costa Rica), and representatives from international organisations, including the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL), and the World Economic Forum (WEF).
1. The Workshop on ‘Investment Facilitation in the Digital Age’ (IEG 01 2025S)
The Workshop organized by WEF prior to the IEG Plenary, explored key trends, opportunities, and challenges in cross-border digital FDI. It included contributions from UNCTAD, OECD, WEF, and KOTRA, and featured presentations by major digital firms such as Dell, Google, IBM, AWS, Yanolja, Microsoft and Nearthlab. Discussions covered firms’ investment decision-making, preferred policies and regulations, and the growing role of digital tools like AI and automation. The session fostered strong synergies between the public and private sectors, and aligned well with the IEG Plenary — for example, Russia presented its digital investment policy during the meeting.
2. Draft Investment Facilitation Action Plan (IFAP) Work Program
Following the MRT Joint Statement in May 2025 encouraging IEG to develop an IFAP Work Program, Japan — supported by PSU — shared a draft Work Program and Menu of Actions with members ahead of IEG2. The draft was discussed at the meeting and will be further refined intersessionally.
3. International Investment Regime
Economies were updated on discussions in international organizations such as WEF, UNCITRAL, OECD, and WTO, gaining insights into investment treaty reforms and negotiations. This helped inform the development of their own investment policies.
4. Investment Promotion, Facilitation and retention measures
PNG provided an update on its APEC-funded project. The project workshop is scheduled for SOM1 2026.
Economies shared investment promotion measures, including those aimed at attracting quality FDI and sustainable investment, and learned from each other’s investment facilitation approaches.
5. PSU Research Projects
PSU and Japan took significant time to discuss two ongoing PSU research projects: one on APEC companies’ best practices in long-term FDI, and another on dispute prevention and mitigation systems. Final reports are being prepared.