Policies on outward FDI stretch from being prohibitive, to permissive and to being
promoting. The prevailing tendency is that governments are recognizing that outward
investment plays a central role in enhancing enterprise competitiveness and home
country performance. UNCTAD (2000b) has defined home country measures as “those
policy measures taken by the home countries of the TNCs that are aimed to encourage
outward FDI to developing countries, and in particular to the least developed countries”.
The measures that the outward investment agencies implement, through assistance to
their firms, can be grouped as follows: (1) Information provision and technical
assistance; (2) Financial support and investment insurance; (3) Measures to promote
technology transfer.