By Nan Li Collins, Director of the Division on Investment and Enterprise, UN Trade and Development (UNCTAD)
© Shutterstock/PradeepGaurs | A technician works on a circuit board at an electronics factory in Noida, Uttar Pradesh, India.
Where companies invest today will help determine where goods are produced, technologies are developed and trade opportunities emerge tomorrow.
Investment is increasingly flowing into strategic sectors such as artificial intelligence infrastructure, semiconductors, critical minerals and clean technologies. But much of that investment is concentrated in a small number of economies, raising the risk that developing countries could struggle to connect to the production networks and supply chains shaping future trade.
For developing economies, the challenge is not to compete in every strategic industry, but to find realistic entry points – from processing and specialised manufacturing to logistics, digital infrastructure and services.
In a new op-ed for Economist Enterprise, Nan Li Collins, director of the investment and enterprise division at UN Trade and Development (UNCTAD), examines how shifting investment patterns are reshaping global production and trade, and what developing economies can do to capture emerging opportunities.
Read the full article on Economist Enterprise.