ABSTRACT
This chapter provides a summary of the foreign investment policy of each Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) member economy, applying a common set of criteria to evaluate the current state of liberalisation. The APEC member economies is divided into four categories – developed economies, newly industrialised economies (NIEs), developing economies and transition economies. The developed economies include the US, Canada, Japan, Australia and New Zealand. The NIEs are those with newly acquired Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development status or that are close to meeting all requirements for this status. They are Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, Hong Kong and Mexico. The US has traditionally had a liberal foreign investment policy in terms of both approval requirements and national treatment for foreign investors. As might be expected in view of the North American Free Trade Area agreement, the Canadian approach to foreign investment is reasonably similar to the US approach.
