Global Value Chains and Development

Investment is a core driving force in economic development in large part due to its productivity-enhancing benefits.  The international fragmentation of production in global value chains (GVCs), driven by technological progress, has an important investment dimension.  UNCTAD’s 2013 World Investment Report notes the significant development contribution of firms that coordinate GVCs, which in turn support employment and broad-based growth across many sectors of the economy.  GVCs lead to more interconnected economies, as seen in the increasing share of intermediate goods and services in world trade. GVCs operate through complex, IT-enabled networks of supplier relationships with implications for access to global markets, capital, and knowledge.

Please join us for a conference on the role of foreign direct investment and global value chains in economic development. Representatives from the business and policy spheres will explore these factors in the context of the rapidly changing international development landscape.

This event is part of CSIS’s ongoing “Chevron Forum on Development” series, which seeks to highlight the role of the private sector in global development.