This document examines the global and regional evolution of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and offers recommendations so these flows can contribute to the region's productive development processes.

This publication sets out and analyses the main foreign direct investment (FDI) trends in the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean. In 2017, certain trends that had already emerged in the global economic landscape became more established. In particular, announcements of potential restrictions on trade and pressures to relocate production to developed countries were confirmed. At the same time, China has taken steps to restrict outflows of foreign direct investment (FDI) in order to align these flows with its strategic plan. Adding to these factors is the expansion of digital technologies, whose international expansion requires smaller investments in tangible assets. Firms in these areas are heavily concentrated in the United States and China, which reduces the need for cross-border mergers and acquisitions.

Global geopolitical relations are being shaken to their roots, and no region in the world is more entangled in this than Latin America. Trump's foreign policy is transforming the role played by the United States on the world stage, questioning multilateralism and casting a shadow on the whole idea of global governance. Other world powers, especially Russia and China, are not sitting idly by. The European Union has an opportunity to take on the mantle of guarantor of liberal values and the multilateral order, and to strengthen its alliance with Latin American countries. This report helps to delve deeper into the region's shifting dynamics. How are the US, China, and the EU competing in terms of political alliances and economic projection towards the Latin American region? And how are some of the main Latin American countries (namely Brazil, Mexico, and Venezuela) contributing to change the regional picture?

The Latin American Economic Outlook 2021: Working Together for a Better Recovery aims to analyse and provide policy recommendations for a strong, inclusive and environmentally sustainable recovery in the region. The report explores policy actions to improve social protection mechanisms and increase social inclusion, foster regional integration and strengthen industrial strategies, and rethink the social contract to restore trust and empower citizens at all stages of the policy‐making process.

The economies of China and of the Latin America and the Caribbean region are the current global growth poles and, over the coming years, will grow twice or three times as quickly as the industrialised economies, which will have to adjust to slower growth and higher unemployment. The present juncture offers an opportunity to rethink global and regional partnership strategies and to put greater emphasis on South-South ties in trade, foreign direct investment FDI) and cooperation. In this document, the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) posits that China and the Latin America and the Caribbean region now enjoy a sufficiently mature relationship and are poised to make a qualitative leap towards a mutually beneficial strategic alliance.

In 2010, the Latin American and Caribbean region showed great resilience to the international financial crisis and became the world region with the fastest-growing flows of both inward and outward foreign direct investment (FDI). The upswing in FDI in the region has occurred in a context in which developing countries in general have taken on a greater share in both inward and outward FDI flows. This briefing paper is divided into five sections. The first offers a regional overview of FDI in 2010. The second examines FDI trends in Central America, Panama and the Dominican Republic. The third describes the presence China is beginning to build up as an investor in the region. Lastly, the fourth and fifth sections analyze the main foreign investments and business strategies in the telecommunications and software sectors, respectively.