Lakshmi Puri has been appointed as director of UNCTAD’s division for trade in goods and services, and commodities (DITC).

When Dr Alejandro Toledo was voted into power in Peru last year he was seen very much as a president of the people. He is the first native Indian president in Peru and represents a break from the excesses of former president, Alberto Fujimori. The electorate also took to him due to his rags to riches story that saw him rise from being a shoe-shine boy to an economist for the UN, World Bank and the OECD. Toledo has also served as a visiting professor at the Harvard Institute for International Development.

FDI used to be the preserve of multinationals from developed countries. Not any more: now major corporations from emerging markets are playing their role in creating jobs and building markets overseas. Suzanne Miller examines Mexico’s Cemex, while Kala Rao reports on India’s Mastek and Mphasis-BFL.

Despite the rupee’s appreciation, businesses cannot afford to be complacent. By Farhan Bokhari in Karachi.

US state and county economic development agencies hand out more than $50bn in investment incentives every year but their methods are mysterious. Charles Olivier reports.

Roberto Setúbal, CEO of Banco Itaú, considers the outlook for Brazil under a newly elected leftist government after a decade of reforms.

End-of-year conferences in Spain, Bulgaria and Macedonia may help to forge greater understanding and co-operation regarding the establishment and mechanics of free zones. Sue Wake explains.

Companies are increasingly ditching old notions of property ownership. Courtney Fingar examines the growing trend towards leasing through real estate managers.

Governments are falling over themselves to attract automakers to their countries and regions. Courtney Fingar explains.

After a decade of economic and political instability, Bulgaria, like much of eastern Europe, is at last showing strong economic results. In addition, the Black Sea country has improved its external debt profile by converting Brady Bonds into Eurobonds, via an online auction.

Ashanti Goldfields, one of the few transnational companies based in tropical Africa, is pressing ahead with the long-discussed $32m expansion of its Siguiri mine in Guinea, while simultaneously diversifying into exploration for platinum in South Africa.

The Bangladesh High Court has ruled that government approval for the construction of a private container terminal by a US company at Chittagong was granted illegally.

Finland’s information, communications technology (ICT) cluster continues to grow and has just attracted its first investment by an Indian company.

The further decline of world FDI flows this year by more than a quarter – coming, as it does, on top of a decline by more than half in 2001 – means that more investment promotion agencies are chasing fewer FDI dollars. That makes it all the more important for countries to assess how they are doing in terms of their success in attracting FDI and in terms of their potential to do so.

Multinational companies and banks face legal proceedings for “aiding and abetting a crime against humanity” by conducting business in South Africa under the apartheid regime.

Tengiz oil fine

Oil may be bringing much needed foreign investment into Kazakhstan but it is at high cost to the environment. A court in the capital, Almaty, has just served a $70m fine on Tengizchevroil (TCO), an oil field operator for ecological damage.

The El Salvadorian foreign investment agency, Promoting Investment in El Salvador (Proesa), has announced that it has secured $500m of FDI in the past 24 months.

In a severe blow to the increasingly frail Indonesian economy, Sony has announced that it is closing an audio equipment plant with the loss of several thousand jobs.

Central and eastern Europe is benefiting from the global economic slowdown in the US and the European Union. According to the Ernst & Young European Investment Monitor six monthly review of inward investment between January and June 2002, central and eastern European countries saw their investment project numbers grow by 54%.

Clawback clauses that enable agencies to recoup incentives they give to companies for locating in their region, if those companies then fail to deliver, will undoubtedly result in costly and unnecessary legal disputes.