Foreign direct investment (FDI) has come to be widely recognized over the past decade as a major potential contributor to growth and development. It can bring capital, technology, management know-how and access to new markets. In comparison with other forms of capital flows, it is also more stable, with a longer-term commitment to the host economy.

An Investment Guide to the Lao People’s Democratic Republic is the concrete product of a collaborative venture by UNCTAD and the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC). The objective of this project is to bring together two parties with complementary interests: companies that seek new opportunities and countries that seek new investors. This is not always a straightforward exercise, for firms are driven by their global strategies as much as lured by specific opportunities, and countries have economic and social objectives that transcend attracting foreign investment.

The UNCTAD–ICC investment guides are thus properly seen as parts of a process, a long-term process at the heart of which is an ongoing dialogue between investors and governments. The guides themselves are the product of a dialogue, including that occurring among and between the representatives of business and government during the workshops that precede the completion of the guides. It is our hope that the guides will in turn contribute to the dialogue, helping to strengthen and sustain it. We are convinced that in the long run it is this alone that will create conditions increasingly conducive to greater flows of investment.