Organised by the OECD Development Centre in partnership with the African Union, the 2014 Africa Forum will focus on the pan-African agenda of economic and social transformation.

Korea has made significant progress towards decentralising the management of employment and training programmes, but can still do more to create stronger links with employers at the local level, according to a new OECD report.

The study assesses the role of feed-in tariffs (FITs) and renewable energy certificates (RECs) in creating incentives for cross-border investments and for investments in particular technological portfolios via M&A. The analysis explores the dataset on M&As in alternative energy sources worldwide over 2005-2011.

This public consultation was held to gather interested stakeholders' comments on the draft chapters of the Policy Framework for Investment currently being updated. The consultation ran until 31 December 2014.

This meeting provided the opportunity to review and discuss implementation of the OECD Due Diligence Guidance, the ICGLR Regional Certification Mechanism, and other initiatives to enable responsible mineral supply chains. Issues pertinent to the tin, tantalum and tungsten (3Ts) and gold supply chains were also addressed during the Forum.

U.S. employers are demanding skilled workforces, but are not always able to find a local supply, says a new OECD study looking at Job Creation and Local Economic Development.

In addition to inspiring policy practices, the 2014 edition contains special thematic chapters on entrepreneurship by ethnic minorities, pro-entrepreneurship welfare support systems and support for entrepreneurship from unemployment.

Global FDI flows for 2014 have stalled at levels substantially below the peak levels reached before the financial crisis and ensuing global recession that began in 2008 according to preliminary estimates in the December 2014 issue of FDI in Figures.

Steel is one of the most widely produced industrial products in the world, and the sector depends heavily on a range of raw materials for its production. The aim of this workshop was to better understand the impacts of trade-restrictive raw material policies on the global steel industry and to explore policy approaches that would improve the longer-term efficiency and functioning of these markets.

The Korean shipbuilding industry is one of the top global players, leading by value and second only to China by volume. However, the global economic crisis has dented its finances and it now faces serious challenges to set itself back on a solid footing.

The German Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources (BGR), supported by the OECD, has initiated a study to assess the contribution of small and medium-scale enterprises (SMEs) to due diligence for responsible mineral supply chains. To gather information for this study, SMEs were invited to take part on a confidential survey of due diligence activities by SMEs.

This public consultation was held to gather comments on the draft FAO-OECD guidance for responsible agricultural supply chains which is designed to help enterprises observe standards of responsible business conduct along their agricultural supply chains. The deadline for comment was 20 February 2015.

While de-industrialisation and offshoring have dominated the news about manufacturing during the past decades, recent years have witnessed a number of examples of companies re-shoring activities back to OECD economies. Policy discussions often ignore the profound changes manufacturing has undergone. This working paper addresses this issue against the background of long-term structural change in OECD economies.

This online public consultation was held to gather interested stakeholders' comments on the draft Policy Framework for Investment currently being updated. The consultation ran until 25 February 2015.

Paris, 16 March 2015: Organised by the OECD-hosted Freedom of Investment Roundtable, this conference assessed opportunities and challenges associated with investment treaties and how the system can be improved.

Integrity Week is an annual event organised by the OECD and its CleanGovBiz Initiative to actively support governments and organisations in their efforts to strengthen integrity, build trust, and fight corruption.

The project provided recommendations to the city of Medellin and Antioquia to support the development of the local economy and includes a focus on how the innovative environment can be strengthened to support inclusion, entrepreneurship, SME, and local developmentto and how to better coordinate and integrate its policies with the national level.

Climate change and, more generally, environmental damage have quantifiable economic and health costs, which weigh on long-term growth and well-being. If left unchecked, climate change is projected to decrease global GDP by 0.7 to 2.5 % by 2060. At the same time, the costs to society of air pollution already appear substantial–equivalent to some 4% of GDP across OECD countries and even higher in some rapidly developing economies.

This public consultation is being held to gather comments on the draft OECD Due Diligence Guidance for Meaningful Stakeholder Engagement in the Extractives Sector which provides practical guidance to mining, oil and gas enterprises in addressing the challenges related to stakeholder engagement. The deadline for comment is 5 June 2015.

Chairman's statement of the OECD Steel Committee's 78th session, Paris, 11-12 May 2015.

With a focus on the Asia-Pacific region, this conference addressed what the Sustainable Development Goals will mean for business and how business sustainability strategies can be aligned to support their implementation.

Social entrepreneurs and governments speak different languages. However, understanding each other is essential to achieve quality of life through the businesses we start, grow and scale.

OECD Ministers have endorsed updated guidelines to help national governments and regional groups create the right conditions to attract domestic and foreign investment.

The OECD’s Annual Meeting at Ministerial Level reinforced member governments’ support across a broad range of key OECD work.

Patent data provide an increasingly used means to analyse innovation performance worldwide including in countries with incomplete data coverage, such as some developing countries. This paper discusses the specific issues associated with using patent data for measuring and analysing innovation in narrow technological fields, such as many environment-related technologies.

Luis Videgaray, Mexico’s Minister of Finance and Angel Gurría, OECD Secretary-General will co-host this event in Mexico City on 6-7 July 2015, with a welcoming by the President of Mexico. Participants will share their views on the key factors that will influence future productivity growth and the creation of an OECD Productivity Network.

Addis Ababa - Part of the 3rd International Conference on Financing for Development, this event explored strategies to leverage Africa’s pension funds and other sources of private financing to develop Africa’s infrastructure. Ways to improve the investment climate in Africa using the recently updated Policy Framework for Investment were also be addressed.

In 2014, many countries implemented the latest international guidelines for compiling FDI statistics. The new standards have resulted in significant changes in FDI statistics, including new measures of FDI at the global level.

SMEs form the vast majority of businesses in most countries and contribute strongly to employment and economic growth, but they face particular challenges, particularly as concerns access to finance. Governments have a range of policy levers, including tax policies, that can and should be used to support the growth and development of SMEs, according to a new OECD report.

The Policy Framework for Investment (PFI) is a comprehensive and systematic tool for improving investment conditions. The pocket edition of the PFI contains the full text of the 2015 update minus the supplemental questions and reference lists. Find the integral text and other tools online at www.oecd.org/investment/pfi.htm

The purpose of this workshop was to share information with the Ukrainian authorities about the obligations of governments under the OECD Declaration on International Investment and Multinational Enterprises related to the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises, one of four instruments of the Declaration.

This public consultation is being held to gather comments on the draft Chinese Due Diligence Guidelines for Responsible Mineral Supply Chains. They are intended to align Chinese company due diligence with international standards and allow for mutual recognition with existing international initiatives and legislations.

Thanks to robust skills and investment in R&D, Korea is leading in the development of frontier technologies with potential to transform production processes, stimulate the entry of new firms, and the launch of ground-breaking products and applications, according to a new OECD report.

The workshop will discuss the first results of the OECD Secretariat’s work on integrating FDI statistics into the analysis of Global Value Chains (OECD-WTO Trade in Value Added Initiative) to better account for foreign ownership.

We are looking for national and sub-national policies and initiatives for social enterprise creation and development. The focus will be placed on initiatives funded by the European Social Fund, by other EU funds and programmes, by Member States and sub-national authorities and NOT on examples of successful social enterprises.

The OECD has produced assessments of country-specific investment strategies in G20 countries in order to improve the investment ecosystem, foster efficient infrastructure investment and support financing opportunities for SMEs. This booklet reproduces the highlights of these assessments which have been transmitted to G20 leaders for consideration at their Summit in November 2015..

This report on climate change disclosure in G20 countries takes stock of mandatory climate change reporting schemes in G20 countries and identifies commonalities and divergences between the various schemes.

Encouraging entrepreneurship among disadvantaged groups can help boost jobs and tackle social exclusion, according to a new joint report by the OECD and European Commission.

L'Organizzazione per la Cooperazione e lo Sviluppo Economico (OCSE) e il Governo Italiano hanno intensificato la collaborazione per garantire un'efficace attuazione delle strategie di sviluppo locale per promuovere l'occupazione, incoraggiare l'imprenditorialità e aumentare l'inclusione sociale.

This meeting will provide the opportunity to discuss the role of governments, international partners and businesses in promoting responsible mineral supply chains from conflict-affected and high-risk areas. Participants will learn first hand about international standards and approaches, and be able to ask questions to experts in supply chain due diligence implementation.

Achieving green growth requires ambitious transition management policies in key sectors such as energy, transport, water and agriculture. Provided that the pace of innovation in a number of these key areas is growing faster than ever before, the Forum examined how to foster the "next industrial revolution" by harnessing the potential of systems innovation policies to support green growth.

The news that companies in OECD economies are increasingly bringing manufacturing activities back home has attracted a lot of attention in recent years. But considerable disagreement exists about how important this trend actually is for economies in particular the number of jobs that reshoring is supposed to bring back.

Slowing growth in the Peoples Republic of China (PRC) is grabbing the headlines with some suggesting a third wave of the 2008 global financial crisis. While this topic deserves attention because of its global economic implications, there is insufficient analysis of firms in global production networks (GPNs), which were at the forefront of the economic transformation in PRC and the rest of East Asia, and lessons for latecomers to GPNs.

The tourism industry in OECD countries continues to grow strongly despite economic weakness in advanced economies, and outperformed tourism globally in 2014. However, active, innovative and integrated policies are needed to ensure that tourism remains a competitive and sustainable sector, says OECD.

11 March, Paris, France: This high-level launch event included a panel discussion that addressed the potential impacts of companies operating in agricultural supply chains on human, labour and tenure rights.

Paris, 14 March 2016: Organised by the OECD-hosted Freedom of Investment Round-table, this conference will explore how governments are balancing investor protection and how to improve balance through new institutions.

Financing for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) has turned the corner from the downswing seen during the global financial crisis, but overall credit conditions remain challenging and access to external finance continues to be much tighter for SMEs than larger firms, according to a new OECD report.

A High-Level Meeting on excess capacity and structural adjustment in the steel sector was convened on 18 April 2016, at the Palais d’Egmont in Brussels, co-organised by the OECD and the Belgian government.

Imports of counterfeit and pirated goods are worth nearly half a trillion dollars a year, or around 2.5% of global imports, with US, Italian and French brands the hardest hit and many of the proceeds going to organised crime, according to a new report by the OECD and the EU’s Intellectual Property Office.

Not so long ago, “globalisation” was a favourite paradigm in international business. It was a trend that began in the late 1970s and accelerated in the 1980s, when corporate takeovers were the order of the day and multinational companies fixated on maximising short-term profits and boosting share prices. One approach was “global sourcing”, also called outsourcing or offshoring.