Trade, Environment and Investment Donors: German Government Implemented by: UNCTAD in collaboration with the Institute for Environmental Management and Business Administration of the European Business School. Beneficiary Countries: China, India and Malaysia Status: to be completed by end of 1999 Description and Objectives : The project is meant to explore measures for promoting sustainable development through Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and more particularly to examine the role of TNCs in supporting the efforts of developing countries in implementing and achieving the objectives of multilateral environmental agreements in host countries. Under this project, UNCTAD is responsible for the organisation of a series of seminars and coordination meetings and for providing input to the UFOPLAN project described below. In parallel to the UNCTAD project, the German government is funding the Institute for Environmental Management and Business Administration to carry out the UFOPLAN project, a research programme of the German government. Under the UFOPLAN project, the Research Institute carried out five company level case studies in China, India and Malaysia. These case studies provide the substantive input to the seminars and meetings organised for the UNCTAD project. A
third project, the UNCTAD/CBS (Copenhagen Business School)
project is presently being carried out by CBS in collaboration
with the UNCTAD Division on Investment, Technology and
Enterprise Development. Under this project entitled
"Case studies on cross border environmental management
in TNCs" a series of case studies are being conducted
on environmental practices in transnational corporations
in China, India and Malaysia. The UFOPLAN project focusses
on the same countries in order for the findings of both
projects to be complementary. 1) Launching Seminar A launching Seminar was held in January 1999, in Jaipur, India, involving experts from government, the business sector and other relevant experts from participating countries. 2) Pre-UNCTAD X Seminar on Making FDI Work for Sustainable Development In the context of preparations for UNCTAD X, a seminar was held on 15 November 1999, in Geneva, on making sustainable development work for FDI. The objectives of this seminar were to:
Relevant findings of both the UNCTAD Trade Environment and Investment project and UNCTAD/CBS project provided illustrations of the behaviour of TNCs with respect to cross border environmental management and the diffusion of environmentally sound technologies. Participants included representatives from government, industry, NGOs, and other experts. 3) Final meeting The final findings of the UFOPLAN project will be presented in Spring 2000, in Geneva. 4) Coordination meetings Coordination
meetings are taking place throughout the project with
representatives from UNCTAD, the German government,
the German Research Institute on Environmental Management
and Business Administration and a small selection of
other experts to provide input and direction to the
UFOPLAN project during the course of its implementation.
Additional Information:
Project
Manager: Valerie
Normand
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