(Correspondent: Zhong Yiming) On August 16th, Zhan Xiaoning, Director of UNCTAD's Investment and Enterprise Division, and Professor Jeremy Clegg from University of Leeds, were invited to Nankai Economist Symposium. Mr. Zhan gave a lecture entitled “Global Investment Trends and Policies in the New Era of Globalization”, while Professor Jeremy Clegg reported on “The Future of the Project”.

Gao Qi, Deputy Party Secretary and Vice-President of School of Economics, issued certifications for the two lecturers and hosted the symposium.

Zhan Xiaoning introduced the latest trends and prospects of global investment policies. He mentioned that, global foreign direct investment (FDI) flows in 2018 continued to slide and fell to the lowest since 2004. At the same time, global FDI flows to developing economies appear small growth, foreign capital inflows of developing Asian economies have increased by 4%, while China remains the largest recipient of FDI, accounting for over 10% of the total absorbed investment, second only to America. He also predicted a modest recovery in global FDI of 2019, with growth expected to be 10 percent.

Professor Jeremy Clegg started with the 70-year development process and historical background of Europe Union, introduced its important agreements, extension and policies, and comprehensively surveyed the occurrence and development of Brexit under international pattern. Professor Jeremy Clegg said, the world has entered an unstable period, the EU should seek more free-trade agreements around the world, curb the excesses of multinational companies and reduce social and economic inequalities within member states to reap more benefits from integration.

After the symposium, Professor Zhan and Professor Jeremy Clegg gave an in-depth explanation to the students' questions, as well as some directions for future research.