Global value chains (GVCs) have become a dominant feature of world trade and investment, offering new prospects for growth, development and jobs, according to a new joint report by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).

Costa Rica today became the 45th country to adhere to an OECD international investment instrument, designed to help the country attract more and better foreign investment and promote responsible business conduct.

Russia has yet to address key provisions of the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention, which entered into force in Russia in April 2012. It has not yet fully implemented recommendations for strengthening its framework for combating foreign bribery and should be more proactive in detecting, investigating and prosecuting foreign bribery cases.

Costa Rica adhered today to OECD legal instruments on Internet governance and international business conduct, demonstrating its willingness to align its policies to best practices in these areas and work together with the Organisation.

Deputy Minister of National Planning and Economic Development, Dr. Khin San Yee, presented her country’s ambitious efforts to improve the investment climate at meetings of the OECD Investment Committee and Advisory Group on Investment and Development from 15-17 October 2013 in Paris.

Georgia has achieved significant progress in reducing corruption over the past decade. To build on this progress, the Government should focus on strengthening its professional civil service and ensure independence of the judiciary, according to a new OECD report.

Azerbaijan must do more to enforce recently introduced anti-corruption laws and to ensure law enforcement has the resources to prosecute complex corruption crimes, says a new OECD report.

18 November 2013 - Asia-Pacific Trade and Investment Week 2013 opened in Bangkok today with a regional conference on responsible business practices jointly organised by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission of Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

Jointly organised by the OECD and ESCAP, this conference focused on the role of governments in supporting and facilitating more sustainable and inclusive business practices in the Asia-Pacific region.

Developed by companies, for companies, with assistance from the OECD, UNODC, and World Bank, this Handbook serves as a useful, practical tool for companies seeking compliance advice in one, easy-to-reference publication. It brings together the major business guidance instruments for companies and illustrates them using real-life, anonymised case studies provided by companies.

This roundtable focused on the impact the Anti-Bribery Convention has had on the global anti-bribery agenda since its entry into force in 1999, as well as what should be done to ensure the Convention's continued relevance going forward.

Ireland should increase its resources to detect and investigate foreign bribery more efficiently. Resources have, in recent years, been largely devoted to investigating non-bribery cases in the financial sector. Ireland has not prosecuted a foreign bribery case in the twelve years since its foreign bribery offence came into force, and law enforcement has taken few proactive steps to investigate allegations.

This conference focused on recent reforms undertaken by the government to improve the investment climate in Myanmar, and the ways that the international community can help ensure that renewed investor interest contributes to sustainable and inclusive development. It featured a discussion of the detailed finding of the recently released OECD Investment Policy Review of Myanmar.

Recommendation of the OECD Council on Effective Public Investment Across Levels of Government

South Africa must take urgent steps to proactively investigate and prosecute foreign bribery. No foreign bribery cases have been prosecuted since South Africa joined the Convention in 2007. The 4 on-going investigations – out of only 10 allegations that have surfaced to date – are also far from reaching the prosecution stage, according to a new report by the OECD Working Group on Bribery.

The European Commission has proposed an integrated EU approach to stop profits from trading minerals being used to fund armed conflicts. The package of measures aims to make it more difficult for armed groups in conflict-affected and high-risk areas to finance their activities through the mining of and trade in minerals.

This workshop focused on how to comply with international regulations on conflict-free gold supply chains and how to make the most of the OECD Due Diligence Guidance for Responsible Supply Chains of Minerals from Conflict-Affected and High-Risk Areas.

Latvia has taken an important step on the road to OECD membership by completing the process to become a member of the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention. Latvia will become the 41st Party to the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention on 30 May 2014.

Tajikistan needs to step up its fight against corruption and turn political declarations of commitment into action, says a new OECD report.

Mongolia should persist with systematic reforms in its struggle against corruption, says a new report by the Istanbul Anti-Corruption Action Plan (IAP).

Participants at the forum adopted a communiqué calling for companies to confront challenges they encounter openly and transparently by publicly reporting on due diligence in accordance with the OECD Due Diligence Guidance for Responsible Supply Chains of Minerals from Conflict-Affected and High-Risk Areas

Available in several languages, this booklet provides basic information about the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises, the most comprehensive set of government-backed recommendations on responsible business conduct in existence today. Adhering governments aim to encourage the positive contributions MNEs can make to sustainable development and to minimise the difficulties to which their various operations may give rise.

Co-organised by the Italian Co-Chair of the G20 Anti-Corruption Working Group and the OECD, participants discussed progress in advancing the key elements of the global anti-corruption agenda and innovative solutions to address the latest challenges facing countries, business and civil society.

The OECD Working Group on Bribery supports Spain’s efforts to further reform its Penal Code to bring its anti-bribery law into line with its international obligations under the OECD Convention on Combatting Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions.

Este folleto contiene información esencial sobre las Líneas Directrices de la OCDE para empresas multinacionales, que en la actualidad constituyen las recomendaciones más exhaustivas aprobadas por los gobiernos sobre la conducta responsable de las empresas.

This statement was adopted by National Contact Points on 25 June 2014 during their 15th Meeting.

Communiqué by Ministers participating in the informal ministerial meeting on responsible business conduct that took place at the OECD on 26 June 2014.

This survey was presented at the Informal ministerial meeting on responsible business conduct held in Paris on 26 June 2014.

This conference addressed key questions on investment in infrastructure and transport in Latin America and the Caribbean. It brought together policymakers, international experts and other interested stakeholders to discuss concrete policy recommendations to maximise the opportunities and address the challenges in the region.

This self-assessment report looks at South Africa's investment regime in the light of the OECD Codes of Liberalisation and the principle of National Treatment.

3-4 September 2014, Phnom Penh, Cambodia: This conference focused on the key levers for restoring trust in government and building trust by and in the private sector and civil society.

Based on the OECD-UNODC-World Bank Anti-Corruption Ethics and Compliance Handbook, this webcast organised by KPMG offered an opportunity for attendees to learn about and understand the value of anti-corruption and ethics compliance best practices and how to use them to enhance their programmes.

8-10 October 2014, Paris, France: Discussions at this meeting will focus on implementing the Istanbul Anti-Corruption Action Plan; monitoring reports for Armenia and Kazakhstan; and, progress reports from Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kyrgyz Republic, Mongolia, Tajikistan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan.

Turkey is a significant and geopolitically critical economy. Its companies, like those from many other countries, operate in corruption-prone sectors and countries. In spite of this, only 10 allegations have come to the attention of Turkish authorities since foreign bribery became an offence in Turkey in 2003.

After a comprehensive review in October 2012, the OECD Working Group on Bribery asked France, through a series of concrete recommendations, to intensify its actions to fight the bribery of foreign public officials and undertake important reforms.

Beijing, 24 October 2014 - China presented guidelines intended to provide a roadmap for the responsible business conduct of Chinese companies operating overseas. In addition, China and the OECD signed a Memorandum of Understanding to promote the implementation by Chinese companies of responsible business conduct in global mineral supply chains.

Kazakhstan’s new anti-corruption strategy must be better defined, involving key stakeholders, with targeted actions and goals that address the key corruption challenges facing the country, says a new OECD report by the Istanbul Anti-Corruption Action Plan (IAP).

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.

Global FDI flows collapsed with the global financial crisis in 2008 and remain 40% below pre-crisis levels. A major reason for this is the EU. While FDI flows in the rest of the world recovered by 2010, the EU continues to struggle due to structural factors that are undermining the quality of the EU’s investment environment. The paper analyses why and puts forward policy options. It is part of the Investment Insights series.

The G20 needs to go structural, social, and green! With fiscal and monetary policy room nearly exhausted, structural reforms are the best choices, sometimes the only choice. The OECD battle cry in this regard has been unchanged since 2008: “go structural!”.

A little over a year ago the OECD and the World Trade Organization (WTO) launched Trade in Value-Added (TiVA), a new database on trade measured in value-added terms. The evidence that we have unlocked using TiVA has begun to revolutionise our understanding of what is happening in global trade, investment and production.

The OECD Working Group on Bribery invited public comments on the next phase of country monitoring under the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention between 5 November and 1 December 2014. The call for comment is now closed.

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.

As part of the International Anti-Corruption Day, the OECD has joined Member and Partner countries and other International Organisations in raising awareness about the costs and detrimental effects of corruption.

On the occasion of International Anti-Corruption Day, this Working Group on Bribery consultation with the private sector and civil society focused on the development of the Phase 4 evaluation process of the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention.

This conference showcased ASEAN’s regional investment integration achievements and efforts. Practitioners highlighted policy reforms at the national and regional levels and considered practical measures to enhance integration. Ways to successfully attract investment that will strengthen ASEAN supply chains were identified.

The OECD Working Group on Bribery doubts Argentina’s commitment to fight foreign bribery. Argentina still has no law to punish companies for foreign bribery or prosecute its citizens who commit this crime abroad. Widespread delays continue to plague complex economic crime investigations.

This page contains all information relating to implementation of the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention in France.

“Why do financial institutions and investors see so little risk, while companies investing in the real economy see so much risk?” This is perhaps the most important question facing policy makers today. This paper sets out some of the possible hypotheses for lack of investment in the world economy. It uses data drawn from 10 000 global companies in 75 advanced and emerging countries.

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.