Private investment, particularly foreign direct investment (FDI), can play an important role in financing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, but investment is not occurring at the necessary scale or pace. The “Facilitating investment into SDG sectors in developing countries” project strives to address this lack of investment in line with national policies aimed at attracting FDI which contributes to sustainable development.

The project was well under way when the COVID-19 pandemic led to a global lockdown, disrupting international trade and investment, and causing global FDI flows to collapse. As was the case for many government institutions, investment promotion agencies had to close their offices, move functions online and shift their focus from routine investment promotion and facilitation towards crisis management. By quickly adapting to their needs, the project supported investment promotion agencies in their efforts to make this shift and allowed them, in turn, to support the private sector through the crisis. Investment promotion agency executives from over 30 countries in the Caribbean, the East African Community and the Southern African Development Community (SADC) benefited from a series of online capacity-building activities which allowed them to assess their agencies’ situations, consult with their peers in other countries, exchange experiences and discuss operational changes.

The project has enabled investment promotion agencies to become better equipped to support businesses and public sector bodies through the COVID-19 crisis by providing enterprises with critical information on pandemic-related restrictions and government responses, assisting them in applying for government support, developing business continuity guides and helping national and local governments understand the needs of investors. The project has facilitated the documentation of the critical role played by investment promotion agencies since the onset of the pandemic through the creation of a database on the online response of 180 national investment promotion agencies to the COVID-19 pandemic. These data were fed into the production of two advisory reports for investment promotion agencies on how to deal with immediate challenges and what to expect in the context of the “new normal”. The database helped identify “best practice” agencies, three of which were selected as winners of the United Nations Investment Promotion Awards 2020 for Excellence in Response to the COVID-19 Crisis.

This project is ongoing, with a shift in focus from crisis management towards the facilitation of investment in Sustainable Development Goals-related industries and sectors – including health care, digital infrastructure and the green and blue economies – which have received extra attention owing to the pandemic. Training includes the exchange of best practices between members of SADC and the East African Community on investment in renewable energy and digital infrastructure and on business opportunities in the blue economy for island economies in the Indian Ocean and the Caribbean. The project is also providing support to selected countries in developing strategies to mainstream the facilitation of Sustainable Development Goals-related investment post-COVID-19, including in health care.