Home Country Measures that Promote Responsible Foreign Agricultural Investment: Evidence from Selected OECD Countries.

Year of publication2016

AuthorFAO

PublisherFAO

AbstractThis paper summarizes the good practices by nine selected OECD countries that seek to promote responsible foreign investment in developing country agriculture, primarily by investors in their territory or jurisdiction. The study provides examples of the increasing trend of home countries in establishing binding legal norms and other mechanisms as safeguards that are relevant for agricultural investment. It finds that States apply some specific provisions to hold private corporate actors investin g in agriculture abroad accountable, for example in regard to bribery of foreign public officials. Investment home countries are also increasingly using safeguards relevant for agricultural investment for companies that are controlled by the State or seek its support. Furthermore, Public-Private Partnerships are increasingly used in development assistance projects as a means to promote responsible agricultural investment. In these cases, the safeguards usually imply the use of negotiated and app roved instruments such as the Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests in the Context of National Food Security (VGGT). The Principles for Responsible Investment in Agriculture and Food Systems (CFS-RAI), endorsed in 2014 by the Committee on World Food Security (CFS), will possibly become a major guidance instrument, given recent declarations by the G7 and G20.

 

ThemeResponsible Agricultural Investment (RAI)

Product typeBook (stand-alone)

SeriesFAO Commodity and Trade Policy Research Working Paper

Areas of workEmerging Trends, Challenges and Opportunities

Keywordsinvestment policies; investment promotion; land resources; land ownership; public investment; rural poverty; agricultural development; foreign investment; Japan; Republic of Korea; Canada; United Kingdom; Americas; France; Germany; OECD countries; Denmark