Investment Experts' Group

Investment is the foundation of economic activity and a necessary prerequisite to innovation, growth of manufacturing and trade.

In 1993, APEC leaders welcomed the report presented by the APEC Eminent Persons Group, which recommended for APEC to “adopt an Asia-Pacific Investment Code to reduce the uncertainties and transaction costs of trade and investment in the region.” Immediately after, leaders instructed the Committee on Trade and Investment (CTI) to develop a set of nonbinding investment principles.

In 1994, the CTI established the Investment Experts’ Group (IEG) to fulfill this task. . The IEG developed the Non-Binding Investment Principles, which were endorsed by APEC leaders in Jakarta in 1994. As a CTI sub-forum, the IEG has worked to enhance liberalization and facilitation of investment, as well as strengthen member economies’ capacity building through economic and technical cooperation.

Bearing in mind the goal of economic development and prosperity of people across the APEC region, the objectives of the IEG are as follows:

• To undertake work related to investment and report its outcomes to the CTI
• To address issues related to investment and to enhance the liberalization and facilitation of investment in the APEC region
• To enhance capacity building in the area of investment through economic and technical cooperation among member economies in the APEC region
• To support investment promotion activities of member economies to facilitate investment flows in the region

Based on these objectives, the IEG reaffirms two principal pillars of its work as follows:

1. International investment regime—principles and practices. This pillar looks at various investment issues and challenges from the perspective of international instruments such as International Investment Agreements (IIAs).
2. Investment promotion, facilitation and retention, such as continuing the work on the Investment Facilitation Action Plan (IFAP), Investment Policy Dialogue (IPD), Investment Promotion Agency (IPA), best practice discussions and other crosscutting issues such as global value chains (GVC), public-private partnerships (PPP) and infrastructure.

APEC Non-Binding Investment Principles (NBIPs)

The APEC Non-Binding Investment Principles (NBIPs) demonstrate APEC’s commitment to promoting investment and addressing challenges posed by a rapidly evolving business environment. The NBIPs, originally endorsed in 1994, were successfully revised in 2011.

Investment Facilitation Action Plan

In 2008, APEC Ministers endorsed an Investment Facilitation Action Plan (IFAP) that is aimed at strengthening the competitiveness and sustainability of economic growth of APEC’s member economies and making further progress towards achievement of the Bogor Goals. The IFAP includes a comprehensive prescription of actions that can be taken across a range of policy areas and has served as a valuable reference tool for the improvement of the APEC investment climate. The IEG has reviewed the action plan’s implementation progress and published five reports in 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019 and 2023.

Last page update: July 2025

Contacts

Current Activities

The Latest IEG Meeting

The Investment Experts’ Group (IEG) held its first meeting (IEG1) for 2025 on 24-25 February 2025 in Gyeongju, Korea. IEG1 was attended by delegates from 15 member economies, one guest economies (Costa Rica) and one international organizations (the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL)) and made virtual presentations by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and the World Economic Forum (WEF).

1. Workshop for "APEC Companies’ Best Practices on Long-Term Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) within APEC Economies"

On 24 February 2025, Japan and APEC Policy Support Unit (PSU) hosted a workshop on the PSU research project titled “APEC Companies’ Best Practices on Long-Term Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) within APEC Economies.” The workshop featured presentations from four selected companies, i.e., Ajinomoto Malaysia Berhad, Kaneka Malaysia, Toyota Thailand, and Intel Malaysia & Intel Viet Nam, who shared insights based on the survey findings and their long-term investment experiences in the APEC region.

2. IFAP Upgrade

Japan, in collaboration with PSU, has led discussions on the ongoing Investment Facilitation Action Plan (IFAP) Upgrade. This engagement aimed to refine the framework by integrating feedback from stakeholders, ensuring that the upgraded IFAP aligns with APEC’s guiding policies and evolving investment trends, particularly in digitalization, inclusivity, and sustainability. 

This is the mandate for IEG from APEC Ministers last year to complete this work by the APEC Minsters Responsible for Trade (MRT) in May this year. Member economies will review the draft of the IFAP Upgrade and submit feedback before its endorsement at CTI1 during SOM1.

3. Korea's proposal on Investment Facilitation for Development Agreement (IFDA) Joint Statement Initiative to be adopted at MRT 2025

Korea proposed "Statement of the APEC Committee on Trade and Investment, together with the APEC Investment Experts’ Group, in support of the WTO Joint Statement Initiative on Investment Facilitation for Development," reinforcing APEC’s commitment to strengthening investment facilitation measures. This initiative builds upon WTO’s recent Investment Facilitation for Development (IFD) Agreement and seeks to enhance transparency, streamline investment procedures, and improve regulatory coherence among APEC economies. Korea encouraged member economies to engage in further discussions to ensure a coordinated and inclusive approach toward investment facilitation, to be adopted as the Annex of the MRT Joint Statement in MRT this year.

4. Korea Host year's Priorities

Korea’s Ministry of Trade, Industry, and Energy (MOTIE) presented the key deliverables for the APEC Ministers Responsible for Trade (MRT) Meeting 2025, scheduled for 15-16 May 2025 in Jeju, Korea. Korea emphasised the importance of aligning APEC’s trade and investment work with evolving global economic trends, particularly in AI-driven trade, sustainable supply chains, and WTO reforms. 

On digital issue, IEG fosters an enabling environment for digital investment, technology-driven growth, and digital trade facilitation. In this regard, participants shared their activities on this area, such as WEF’s Digital FDI Initiative; OECD’s FDI Qualities Framework for the Digital Economy and Korea’s AI for Trade Initiative

5. Follow-up for Ichma Statement

IEG’s work supports the Ichma Statement on a New Look at FTAAP through discussing Peru’s CTI Initiative "A way forward to implement the Ichma Statement on A New Look at the FTAAP", supporting Peru’s strategy to advance the FTAAP agenda, reinforcing regional investment cooperation and best practices.

6. PNG's proposal for APEC funded project

PNG has proposed the "Workshop on sharing of best practices and approaches to impact investing and the role of IPAs within the APEC region" for Project Session 1 2025.