§ Lord MERRIVALEasked Her Majesty's Government:
To what extent the following measures: Double taxation agreements; bilateral investment protection agreements; pre-investment study schemes; and investment insurance schemes provided by the ECGD are proving effective to promote investments in Commonwealth and non-Commonwealth developing countries, and in which of these are they operative.
Lord ORAMThe main factors influencing companies' decisions to invest overseas are the commercial viability of the project and the climate for investment in the country concerned. In so far as the measures mentioned contribute to these, they will facilitate investment in developing countries, but it is not possible to say what proportion of investments in these countries would not have been made had the measures not been in existence.
The Pre-Investment Studies Scheme and the Investment Insurance Scheme cover all developing countries. Details of countries covered by overseas investment insurance are given in the Annual Report to Parliament by the Secretary of State for Trade on the Overseas Investment and Export Guarantees Act 1972. Investment protection agreements have been concluded with Egypt, Singapore, Korea and Indonesia and negotiations are in progress with other countries. We have double taxation agreements with the following 44 developing countries and the network is being expanded: 293WA
Antigua *Lebanon *Argentina Lesotho Barbados Malawi Belize Malaysia Botswana Mauritius *Brazil Montserrat British Solomon Islands Netherlands Antilles Brunei Nigeria Burma Pakistan Cyprus Portugal Dominica St. Kitts Falkland Islands St. Lucia Fiji St. Vincent Gambia Seychelles Ghana Sierra Leone Gilbert Islands Singapore Greece *Spain Grenada Swaziland Indonesia Tanzania *Iran Trinidad and Tobago Israel Tuvalu Jamaica Zambia * Those countries with whom we have a limited air transport and/or shipping profits agreement only. —Developing countries are those included in the OECD Development Committee list.