On the Prospects for Foreign Direct Investments after Russia's WTO accession

Abstract

This paper addresses two sets of questions. First, it discusses the claim that foreign direct investments (FDIs) play a positive role in economic development and concludes that there is insufficient evidence to support this claim. Second, the paper investigates a potential link between the volume of FDIs and WTO membership. It finds that the impact of WTO membership on the volume of FDIs is insignificant statistically. In spite of negative findings, the paper supports the continuation of WTO negotiations. It attracts attention to the fact that the negotiations stimulate the creation of favorable investment climate in Russia on the one hand and prevents politically powerful companies from obtaining individual concessions on the other.