FDI is critical and remains the largest external source of finance for developing countries – President
HE President Hage Geingob identified Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) as critical and said it remains the largest external source of finance for developing countries and one of the major sources of financing Agenda 2030.
The president said this during his address at the UNCTAD World Investment Forum, Global Leaders Investment Summit in Geneva on Tuesday on the Challenges of Globalization for the Developing World.
Geingob said that a fall in investment would have a negative impact on the realization of the Sustainable Development Goals..
According to the president more should be done to enhance debt-capacity building and technical support for debt sustainability.
“Policy space is critical for the management of our economies. This is important for the implementation of the SDGs as we strive to cope with globalization,” he added.
Meanwhile Geingob said globalization has brought enormous benefits to mankind by providing tremendous opportunity for economic growth which has improved the quality of life around the world.
“However, globalization has its own challenges. The greatest challenge for Southern Hemisphere countries is the lack of industrial capabilities to take full advantage of the benefits associated with globalization,” he added.
Geingob said African countries are even more challenged because of the compounded effect of the advent of the Fourth Industrial Revolution that manifested in characteristics such as 3D printing, the Internet of Things, Big Data Analysis, robotics, cloud computing, and competition between human beings and machines to name but a few.
“We believe that our world can only move forward if we hold hands and pull in the same direction, thereby developing new areas of growth. Together, we can bring about sustainable development and shared prosperity, for the good of all,” he added.
