Foreign direct investment between the European Union and Latin America and the Caribbean

Over the past decade the European Union was the origin of an average US$ 30 billion per year in foreign direct investment to Latin America and the Caribbean, accounting for nearly 40% of all FDI flowing to the region and making it the main investor there. This chapter looks at the principal patterns and characteristics of FDI flows between the European Union and Latin America and the Caribbean, as well as the strategies followed by the transnational companies that are behind these investment flows. It also refers to some of the specific microeconomics of European FDI, its importance for greenfield investment in manufacturing and its contribution to innovation and research and development (R&D) in the region.

Related Subject(s): International Trade and Finance