Investment facilitation is increasingly recognized as a key tool to enhance private capital flows for advancing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. In the context of constrained fiscal space, countries are adopting measures to enhance transparency, streamline investment procedures and leverage digital tools - such as single windows - to lower transaction costs and build more predictable, efficient and accountable investment environments. These efforts contribute to sustainable development, decent work and inclusive growth.

Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals requires, according to an UNCTAD estimate, $4 trillion annually in additional investments, underscoring the urgency of strengthening facilitation frameworks that mobilize private capital.

Momentum is growing nationally and internationally. A new generation of international investment policies routinely includes facilitation provisions, and over 120 World Trade Organization members have endorsed the Investment Facilitation for Development Agreement - the first global discipline focused on facilitation measures. These developments reflect a shift towards seamless, digital and transparent investment ecosystem.

Participants at this high-level session will take stock of recent milestones and examine forward-looking strategies to facilitate sustainable capital flows, paving the way and contributing to the World Investment Forum 2026 and the 14th Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organization where investment facilitation will be high on the agenda.

Questions for discussion:

• What are the key lessons from recent national and international efforts to facilitate investment?
• How can international treaties, including the Investment Facilitation for Development Agreement, support implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals?
• Which digital tools have proven most effective in streamlining investment procedures?
• What challenges do developing and least developed countries face in building facilitation ecosystems?
• How can development partners better support capacity-building for facilitation reforms?

Programme

Introductory remarks: UNCTAD Secretary-General/Deputy Secretary-General

Panel 1. Progress and opportunities: Taking stock and unlocking prospects (40 minutes)

Panel 2. Investment facilitation for the Sustainable Development Goals: Best practices and implementation pathways (40 minutes)

Moderator: Nan Li Collins, Director, Division of Investment and Enterprise