Foreign Direct Investment for Development : Maximising benefits minimising costs Foreign direct investment (FDI) is an integral part of an open and effective international economic system and a major catalyst to development. Yet the benefits of FDI do not accrue automatically and evenly across countries sectors and local communities. National policies and the international investment architecture play an important part in attracting FDI to a larger number of developing countries. It is the responsibility of the host countries to put in place a transparent broad and enabling investment policy environment and to reinforce the human and institutional potentials necessary f