Profile

Thank you for visiting my website. A bit of information about my professional career may be helpful as you peruse this site. (See also https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_P._Sauvant.)

I was born in Germany, went to Gymnasium in Hannover and enrolled in the Free University in Berlin in 1966. In 1968, I received a scholarship from the University of Pennsylvania where I obtained a PhD in International Relations in 1975.

In 1973, I was hired by the United Nations (UN) Secretariat in New York to help write the Organisation’s report on Multinational Corporations in World Development. Subsequently, I contribute to the work that led, in 1974, to the creation of the United Nations Commission on Transnational Corporations and the United Nations Centre on Transnational Corporations (UNCTC); I became part of the Centre’s founding staff nucleus. At that time, the development of developing countries was a main concern in the UN. It crystalized in the call for a New International Economic Order (including the role of transnational corporations in it), driven by the G-77 and the Non-Aligned Countries. I undertook work related to these issues. In particular, the role of transnational corporations (or “multinational enterprises”—MNEs) in development became my main area of interest—specifically, how to increase the benefits of MNE activities and foreign direct investment (FDI) and how to minimize any negative effects. One particular area I worked on concerned the fusion of communication and information technology in the form of transborder data flows and the resulting increased tradability of services, an issue that later mutated into the broader area of electronic commerce.

In 1993, the work on MNEs and FDI was transferred to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) in Geneva, where the Division on Investment and Enterprise was established. I rose to become the Director of that Division (2001-2005), leading a team of about 100 staff. As Director, I provided leadership on research and policy analysis in the field of FDI and MNEs; on technical assistance to Member States on matters related to attracting FDI and benefitting from it; and on promoting consensus building among governments on national and international policy approaches on FDI. (The “Activities Report 2004” illustrates the type of work done by the Division in one particular year.)

Upon my retirement in 2005, and thanks to Jeffrey D. Sachs, I established, in January 2006, and directed (until 2012) the Columbia Program on International Investment, which became, in May 2008, the Vale Columbia Center on Sustainable International Investment (VCC). The VCC sought to create a challenging learning environment for students at Columbia Law School; to undertake FDI-focused analyses resulting in policy recommendations; to provide a forum for dialogue among stakeholders; and to develop practical solutions to increase the contribution of FDI to sustainable development (see the “VCC Activities Report”. In this context, I also co-chaired (2006-2011, with Susan Blaustein, and under the guidance of Jeffrey D. Sachs) the Millenium Cities initiative, to help cities in seven African countries attract FDI (see the “Progress Report on MCI’s Investment-related Activities”. In 2014, the VCC became the Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment (CCSI) at Columbia University. During 2006-2023, I taught, as Lecturer-in-Law at Columbia Law School, a seminar on “FDI and Public Policy”. I continue to be associated with CCSI as a Senior Fellow. I am also a Fellow of the Academy of International Business and an Honorary Fellow of the European International Business Academy.

Throughout my career, both at the UN and at Columbia, my work has focused on the interrelationship between FDI/MNEs and governments. More specifically, most of my work has been dedicated to policy-oriented research and activities on how to enhance positive impacts of FDI/MNEs and how to mitigate negative impacts, especially in developing countries.

Accordingly, a good part of my research, publications and other work sought to respond to the question: “So, what?” Most prominently, the UN World Investment Report—which I launched in 1991 and was the lead author until 2004—always contained policy-oriented recommendations, especially for developing countries. (On the contribution of the first 13 World Investment Reports to the FDI/MNE research field, see here.) The World Investment Report received, in 2020, the Academy of International Business Presidential Recognition Award, which “honored the 30th anniversary of the World Investment Report (WIR) and its contribution to the field of international business”.

The policy orientation of my work is also reflected in three practical initiatives that I have launched and supported:

In 1998, I began, through a series of workshops, to advocate for the establishment of a facility to help developing countries negotiate beneficial large-scale investment contracts with international investors (from 2011 to 2016, in cooperation with Peter Eigen). Germany took up the proposal. Thanks to Günter Nooke of Germany’s Ministry of Economic Cooperation, the G7 endorsed the proposal in 2014, under the name of “CONNEX”. Germany established the CONNEX Support Unit in 2017. Since then, I have been the Co-Chair of the CONNEX Advisory Committee.

Since 2004, I have advocated for the establishment of an advisory center on international investment law, to help developing countries in defending themselves in investor-state disputes with international investors. Thanks to Anna Joubin-Bret, Secretary-General of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL), the proposal was put on UNCITRAL’s agenda in October 2019. In July 2024, the Commission adopted, in principle, the statute of an Advisory Centre on International Investment Dispute Resolution.

In 2015, in the framework of the E15 Task Force on Investment Policy, which was convened in Geneva, Switzerland, by the International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development and the World Economic Forum, I proposed an “international support programme for sustainable investment facilitation”, focused on helping developing countries attract more and better FDI. Subsequently, I presented the proposal to the staff of the World Trade Organisation (WTO). The idea was taken forward in the WTO by Abdel-Hamid Mamdouh, then Director of the Services Division. Structured discussions on a multilateral Investment Facilitation for Development Agreement began in 2018. The discussions were upgraded to negotiations in 2020. The text negotiations were concluded in November 2023. The Agreement awaits integration into the WTO rulebook. (I continue to work with the UN International Trade Centre (ITC) and other organizations to help advance the negotiations, especially in the context of the ITC “Investment Facilitation for Development” project.) Separately, the European Union concluded, in November 2025, a Sustainable Investment Facilitation Agreement with Angola and is negotiating similar agreements with other governments.

A good part of my publications on FDI/MNEs and development, international investment law and policy, services, and transborder data flows reflect the policy orientation of my work, as do some of the publication series that I created, such as the peer-reviewed UN journal Transnational Corporations, the Yearbook on International Investment Law and Policy, and the Columbia FDI Perspectives.

My current interests focus on three areas: (1) Issues related to attracting foreign direct investment (FDI) and benefitting from it, especially as far as developing countries are concerned; investment facilitation is particular important in this respect. (2) Issues related to improving the international investment law and policy regime, to make the regime more supportive of sustainable FDI and development. And (3) Helping developing countries negotiate favourable contracts with international investors.