San José 2015 Blog: Roberto Echandi Keynote on FDI

By
Luisa Leme

The World Bank's global head of the Investment Policy, Trade & Competitiveness Global Practice gave a video presentation on foreign direct investment in Costa Rica

Speakers:

  • Christine Zhenwei Qiang, Practice Manager, Investment Climate Unit, Trade & Competitiveness Global Practice, World Bank Group
  • Roberto Echandi, Global Lead, Investment Policy, Trade & Competitiveness Global Practice, World Bank (via video)

The World Bank's participation at San José 2015 Latin American Cities Conference started with Christine Zhenwei Qiang talking about the importance of foreign direct investment (FDI) for countries' development. She explained that countries grow "because they produce better goods and services" or because they find "better ways to produce these goods and services and retain value added coming from exports." FDI, in this context, is an important connector between countries' economies and global markets.

Keynote speaker Roberto Echandi went further, breaking down how countries can strategize to attract and maintain foreign direct investment that creates the right jobs for an economy.

Echandi said that to retain investment and truly integrate itself in the global economy, countries like Costa Rica have to "understand what investors need." In Costa Rica's case, a key element would be infrastructure, he explained.

Echandi went over four drivers for foreign direct investment: natural resources, needs to penetrate a market, efficiency, and strategic assets. "Costa Rica currently attracts investors because of efficiency," he explained. He talked about how the World Bank has developed a methodology to evaluate countries and show how economies can connect the dots between FDI, motivations, and specific bursts of jobs.

Video starts at 10:55: