The Federal University of Viçosa (UFV) has become the 16th Vi affiliate member, the second in Brazil, along with the Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro.

Recommended by Brazilian Vi core member, the University of Campinas, UFV is particularly strong in agriculture-oriented disciplines and has diversified into economics and business. The university offers undergraduate programmes in Business Administration, Economics and Law; Master's programmes in Applied Economics, Applied Statistics and Economics, and a PhD programme in Applied Economics.
 

Former UNCTAD Course on Key International Economic Issues (P166) participant, Oksana Krupa, and a resource person of the course, Alena Petrushkevich, were chosen by the Belarus Ministry of Economy to prepare the country’s contribution to the Belarus Investment Forum held in London, November 18.

The event was the first high level meeting convened to highlight investment opportunities in the country. More than 500 delegates took part in the forum, including more than 300 representatives of companies and financial establishments from 35 countries of the world.

The first official network activity of new Vi member, Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú (PUCP), gathered 60 academics, students and investment professionals in Lima, to discuss UNCTAD’s World Investment Report (WIR) 2008 via videoconference with Geneva-based experts and country representatives.

Nicole Moussa, from UNCTAD’s Division on Investment and Enterprise, presented the results of the WIR, dealing first with recent trends and prospects for Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) flows and FDI-related policies, both worldwide and in Latin America. The second part of her presentation was dedicated to the main topic of the report this year, FDI in infrastructure.

About 150 lecturers and students from four universities in two Russian cities, joined Geneva-based experts and country representatives via videoconference on November 26, to discuss the results of UNCTAD's World Investment Report (WIR) 2008.

Kalman Kalotay, of UNCTAD's Division on Investment and Enterprise, led the presentation of the report, which this year focused on transnational corporations and the infrastructure challenge.

Twenty-four participants from 10 countries in English-speaking Africa took part in the Virtual Institute's workshop on the teaching and research of economic and legal aspects of International Investment Agreements (IIAs) held in Uganda, November 10-14.

An overwhelming 96 percent of the participants found that the workshop exceeded their expectations, giving top marks to the clarity of presentations, the interactivity of sessions, and the opportunities to apply newly-gained knowledge in group exercises aimed at formulating research proposals and policy advice for government officials.