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.

"My expectations were exceeded because it was very interesting to get the views of the policymakers," said one participant. "To me the meeting was very fruitful because the two sides were able to say their view as far as research is concerned."

The workshop was funded by the Governments of Spain and Finland, developed in cooperation with UNCTAD's work programme on International Investment Agreements, and co-hosted by Vi member university, Makerere University Business School in Kampala.

Based on the Vi teaching material on IIAs, the objective of the workshop was to familiarize participants with the main concepts and arguments related to Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and IIAs, including their impact on national policies. The workshop also covered methodological approaches, interpretation of research findings, ways of identifying policy implications, and linking research with policymaking.

The workshop also provided them with an opportunity to meet, discuss and network with each other on areas of interest to their research and teaching, and to get introduced to opportunities for collaboration with UNCTAD. Participants also valued the final round-table discussion attended by seven government officials, which provided them with valuable information on how to communicate and cooperate with policymakers.

All participants stated that they would use the knowledge and materials distributed at the workshop to work with policymakers and/or in their teaching and research. Ethiopia and Uganda planned to include the material in courses on investment law and trade policy, for example.

The workshop also prompted many ideas for investment-related research, such as: FDI determinants, the quality of FDI and targeting investors into specific sectors; the usefulness of financial incentives for attracting FDI; climate change and FDI; links between FDI and poverty reduction; IIAs and their impact on FDI; cost-benefit analysis of IIAs for a country; or FDI and RTAs. Several participants also intended to orient their PhD proposals towards FDI topics and said that the workshop had given them valuable ideas in this regard.

"I have been in the process of developing my PhD proposal on technological adoption and exporting firms. Now I have already started contemplating how I can bring in FDI component," commented one academic.

Countries represented included Botswana, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Kenya, Lesotho, Mauritius, Rwanda, Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda. Sixteen of the participants came from six Least Developed Countries.