INTERNATIONAL
INVESTMENT
SUMMIT
7 - 11 December 2020
James X. Zhan is Director of Investment and Enterprise at the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). The key products and services under his direction include the World Investment Forum; Global FDI-TNC data base; Investment Advisory Series; Investment Trends and Policy Monitors; and Investment Policy Reviews. Mr. Zhan also leads the division’s research and capacity-building work in the areas of international investment agreements; business facilitation and investment promotion; international accounting standards; entrepreneurship policy; intellectual property rights; corporate governance and social responsibility; and the Sustainable Stock Exchanges Initiative. The program contributes to investment policymaking at the global, regional and national level.
Mr. Zhan is the team leader of the annual UNCTAD World Investment Report, and chief editor of the UN journal Transnational Corporations.
He has more than 30 years of experience at the national and international level in investment, trade, technology, business facilitation and enterprise development. In his current position he directs a work program, built on extensive policy research; technical assistance provided to 150 countries; and consensus-building among 193 member countries.
Mr. Zhan holds a PhD in international economics and was research fellow at Oxford University. He is guest professor at Nankai University in China. He is member of the Global Agenda Council of the World Economic Forum, the Academic and Policy Advisory Board for the Centre of International Business and Management at Cambridge University in the UK; and the Advisory Board for the International Investment Centre at Columbia University in the USA. He has published extensively on trade and investment-related economic and legal issues. He is a regular guest speaker at high-profile academic, business and policy forums.
Mr. James Zhan
Director of Investment and Enterprise
UNCTAD
(UNITED NATIONS CONFERENCE ON TRADE AND DEVELOPMENT)