Industrial Policy & Trade Monitor· 2667 actions· ✨ 89 recent

President Paul Biya promulgated Décret n° 2024/05061 on 13 December 2024, operationalising the procedural architecture of the 2023 Code Minier (Loi n° 2023/014) for the issuance, transfer, renewal, and withdrawal of mining titles, exploration permits, and exploitation licences. The decree establishes the administrative workflow through which SONAMINES exercises its 10% free-carry right and the State may take equity participation, making it the gating instrument for upstream FDI in Cameroonian iron-ore (Mbalam-Nabeba), bauxite (Minim-Martap), and cobalt-nickel (Nkamouna) projects. A companion Décret n° 2024/05062 (modalités des opérations minières) was issued the same date to complete the implementation package.

President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. signed Republic Act No. 12066 — the CREATE MORE Act ("Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises to Maximize Opportunities for Reinvigorating the Economy") — on 11 November 2024, with the law taking effect on 28 November 2024. RA 12066 amends the 2021 CREATE Act (RA 11534) to extend the maximum tax-incentive availment for Registered Business Enterprises from 17 to 27 years, cuts the corporate income tax to 20% for RBEs under the Enhanced Deductions Regime (vs the standard 25% / SCIT 5%), grants a 100% additional power-expense deduction (raised from 50%) for manufacturers, expands VAT zero-rating and import VAT-exemption for export-oriented enterprises, raises the IPA approval threshold from PHP 1bn to PHP 15bn, and institutionalises work-from-home for ecozone/freeport RBEs.

Decreto Supremo N° 020-2024-EM, published in El Peruano on 29 October 2024, declares private investment in mining activity to be of "public necessity" (necesidad pública) under Article 71 of the Peruvian Constitution, authorising GLOBETROTTERS RESOURCES PERU S.A.C. — a foreign-invested mining company — to acquire and hold mining concessions within Peru's constitutionally-restricted fifty-kilometre border zone. The decree sets procedural precedent for Article 71 case-by-case FDI carve-outs in large-scale mining and signals MINEM's operational posture on foreign-investor access to border-proximate mineral projects in the 2024-2026 Peruvian copper, silver, and zinc capex cycle.

President Daniel Noboa signed Executive Decree 435 on 23 October 2024, creating the Comité Nacional de Integridad del Sector Minero (CONIM) as a permanent inter-institutional coordination body chaired by the Secretaría General de Integridad Pública and composed of eight ministries plus SRI and UAFE, with a mandate to develop annual sector-risk assessments, formulate strategic action plans, and coordinate joint operations against illegal mining. The decree also orders ARCOM to update and reopen the Catastro Minero Nacional within six months (deadline 23 April 2025), the first cadastre reopening since the 2018 closure, sequentially executed as: small non-metallic mining (June 2025), metallic mining (September 2025), and all regimes (end 2025). This is the foundational executive instrument anchoring the post-2018 Ecuadorian mining-FDI revival pipeline and an IMF-EFF conditionality item for the 2026 reform cycle.

On 18 October 2024 the Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan approved Government Resolution No. 868 adopting the Concept of Investment Policy of the Republic of Kazakhstan until 2029. The Concept sets a binding strategic-document target to attract at least US$150 billion in foreign direct investment over 2024-2029 and to raise fixed-capital investment from approximately 15.1% of GDP (2023) toward 23-25.1% of GDP by 2029. Its principal new instruments are (i) Development Bank of Kazakhstan (DBK / BDK) concessional lending at 6% interest for a 10-year tenor for the engineering infrastructure of new industrial projects, (ii) regional investment headquarters (one per oblast) modelled on the existing national Investment Headquarters under the Prime Minister, (iii) a national digital investment platform (invest.gov.kz) for streamlined permitting and investor aftercare, (iv) a unified register of investor issues and complaints administered by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as the designated FDI-attraction owner, and (v) counter-obligations (localisation, employment, technology transfer) imposed on recipients of state preferences. The Concept is the principal implementing instrument under the 2021 Law on Industrial Policy (Law No. 86-VII ZRK) on the investment-attraction side and is designed to operate alongside the 2023 REE Comprehensive Plan and the 2025 Subsoil Code amendments on the minerals-extraction side.

The Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania adopted Law No. XIV-2985 on 26 September 2024, amending the Law on the Protection of Objects of Importance to Ensuring National Security (NSU Act), registered in the Teisės aktų registras (TAR) on 3 October 2024 and entering into force on 18 October 2024. The amendments expand the list of strategically important economic activities subject to FDI screening by the Commission for the Coordination of Protection of Objects of Importance to National Security to include the issuance of electronic money, electronic money tokens, asset-referenced tokens, and the provision of crypto-asset services (CASPs) as defined under EU MiCA Regulation 2023/1114, aligning Lithuania's screening perimeter with the EU crypto-assets regulatory framework. The law also refines core definitional concepts — "persons acting in concert," "controlling person," and "manager of critical information infrastructure" — to tighten beneficial-ownership and control analysis under the regime.

On 11 August 2024, King Salman issued Royal Decree No. M/19 promulgating Saudi Arabia's new Investment Law (Nizam al-Istithmar), which entered into force on 12 February 2025 (180 days after publication in the Um Al-Qura' Gazette). The law replaces the 2000 Foreign Investment Law (Royal Decree M/1) and eliminates the statutory distinction between Saudi and non-Saudi investors, establishing a unified national-treatment framework: foreign investors no longer require a separate MISA foreign-investment licence and instead complete a streamlined registration with a national registry before commencing activity (other than listed securities, which remain under CMA rules). The law codifies fair-and-equitable treatment, freedom to manage and repatriate capital, IP protection, and protection from expropriation except by final judicial ruling with prompt compensation; activities are open by default, subject only to an "Excluded Activities" list maintained by an inter-ministerial committee. Implementing Regulations were issued by Ministerial Resolution No. 1086 dated 8/8/1446H (7 February 2025) and published in Um Al-Qura' Gazette issue 5083 on 25 April 2025. The law is the foundational FDI architecture for Vision 2030 and pairs with the 30-year RHQ tax-incentive package and the 2021 Mining Investment Law.

Sri Lanka's Economic Transformation Act, No. 45 of 2024, enacted by Parliament on 25 July 2024 and gazetted on 9 August 2024, is the foundational statutory rewrite of the country's post-default FDI and trade-policy architecture. The Act repeals the Board of Investment of Sri Lanka Law, No. 4 of 1978 (Section 194) and replaces the BOI with five new institutions: the Economic Commission of Sri Lanka (primary investment-approval and oversight body), Investment Zones Sri Lanka / Zones SL (SEZ management), the Office for International Trade (separating trade-policy from investment-policy functions), the National Productivity Commission, and the Sri Lanka Institute of Economics and International Trade (SLIEIT). The Act also codifies binding fiscal targets aligned with the IMF EFF conditionality — primary surplus of 2.3% of GDP by 2032, revenue exceeding 15% of GDP from 2027, debt-to-GDP below 95% by 2032, and GDP growth of at least 5% by 2027 — making it the parent statutory instrument under which subsequent FDI- incentive and tariff-reform sub-instruments operate.

The National Assembly of the Lao PDR adopted the amended Law on Investment Promotion (No. 62/NA) on 28 June 2024; it entered into force on 16 December 2024, replacing the 2016 Investment Promotion Law and the 2019 Article-12 amendment. The statute spans 13 parts and 109 articles (62 amended, 32 new) and establishes the foundational legal architecture for domestic and foreign investment in Laos, setting out promotion categories, fiscal-incentive regimes, one-stop-service approval pathways, and investor-protection guarantees. Key reforms tighten the framework for large strategic-sector FDI in mining and hydropower — requiring partial state ownership — while expanding CIT/tax-holiday and customs-duty exemptions by SEZ category and sector-promotion zone. The law operationalises the Investment Promotion and Management Committee (IPMC) as the one-stop regulatory authority, enhancing alignment with the Lao-China Railway-driven Chinese-FDI surge and positioning Laos within the ASEAN horizontal investment-promotion reform wave.

The Parliament of Georgia adopted the Law on Transparency of Foreign Influence (Law No 4194-XIV) on 14 May 2024 by an 84–4 vote, overriding a presidential veto on 28 May 2024. The law requires NGOs, broadcasters, and online/print media that derive 20% or more of their funding from a "foreign power" in any calendar year to register as "organisations pursuing the interests of a foreign power," with reporting and transparency obligations and fines of up to GEL 25,000 (~EUR 8,400) per violation. The European Council immediately froze Georgia's EU accession negotiations citing the law's incompatibility with EU values, the European Commission suspended EUR 30M+ of annual direct budget support, and the US State Department announced visa restrictions targeting Georgian officials, establishing the measure as a pivotal FDI-climate and geopolitical inflection event for the country.

Latvia's Saeima adopted on 27 March 2024 amendments to the National Security Law (Nacionālās drošības likums), entering into force on 24 April 2024, that widen the perimeter of foreign-investment and ownership transactions subject to Cabinet of Ministers pre-clearance over "companies of significance to national security." The amendments expand the universe of regulated subjects beyond registered companies to include foundations and associations, tighten the rules on beneficial-ownership disclosure, and bring additional sensitive activities — energy security including LNG-terminal acquisitions, electronic communications, cybersecurity, and critical-raw-materials processing — under the regime, while clarifying Cabinet authority to impose conditions or unwind transactions retroactively. The law functions as Latvia's horizontal FDI-screening instrument under the EU-wide cooperation framework of Regulation 2019/452.

On 21 March 2024, Costa Rica's Ministerio de Comercio Exterior (COMEX) launched the Hoja de Ruta para el Fortalecimiento del Ecosistema de Semiconductores — the first national semiconductor roadmap published by any Latin American country — jointly presented with US Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo in the context of the CHIPS Act §103 ITSI Fund partnership. President Rodrigo Chaves Robles simultaneously signed an executive decree declaring the semiconductor industry and related industries of "interés público" (public interest) and directing COMEX to lead implementation. The roadmap is organised around four pillars: Talent (Human Talent Training Incentive programme, US$6M initial budget), Incentives (OECD BEPS Pillar Two-aligned fiscal/financial R&D incentives, Free Trade Zone regime strengthening under Law 7210), Investment Attraction (CINDE-led FDI promotion targeting ATP, advanced PCB, and design-house segments), and Regulatory Improvement (customs facilitation, IP reform, export-control alignment). Costa Rica is one of seven declared ITSI-fund partner economies and hosts Intel's largest non-US assembly and test site since 1997, alongside Applied Materials, ON Semiconductor, Coherent, MaxLinear, and Boston Scientific.

On 28 February 2024 President Bola Ahmed Tinubu signed one executive order and two presidential directives to revive upstream oil and gas investment in Nigeria after years of declining FDI: (i) the Oil and Gas Companies (Tax Incentives, Exemption, Remission, etc.) Order, 2024 — establishing a gas tax credit for non-associated gas (NAG) greenfield projects and fiscal enablers for deep-water oil and gas; (ii) the Presidential Directive on Local Content Compliance Requirements, 2024 — instructing the NCDMB to adapt enforcement of the Local Content Act to in-country capacity gaps; and (iii) the Presidential Directive on Reduction of Petroleum Sector Contracting Costs and Timelines, 2024 — streamlining NUPRC and NNPCL contracting approvals. Effective immediately on signing.

On 23 February 2024 Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly announced at a press conference in the New Administrative Capital that Egypt and an ADQ-led consortium (Abu Dhabi Developmental Holding Company PJSC, with Modon Properties and Talaat Moustafa Group as development partners) had signed a framework agreement granting ADQ the development rights to Ras El-Hekma — a 170.8 million square-metre Mediterranean coastal site approximately 350 km northwest of Cairo. The USD 35bn package comprises USD 24bn in fresh foreign-currency cash for the development rights (paid in two tranches: USD 15bn within one week, USD 20bn within two months) plus USD 11bn converted from existing UAE deposits at the Central Bank of Egypt into prime-project equity stakes across Egypt. Egypt retains a 35% sovereign stake in the master-developer ("Ras Al Hekma Company"). The deal is the largest single foreign direct investment in Egypt's history; it materially eased Egypt's worst FX crisis in decades and underpinned the IMF's March 2024 USD 8bn Extended Fund Facility top-up and the EUR 7.4bn EU funding package.

Bulgaria's National Assembly adopted on 22 February 2024 amendments to the Investment Promotion Act establishing the country's first horizontal foreign direct investment screening mechanism, published in State Gazette No. 20 on 8 March 2024 and entering into force on 12 March 2024. The regime implements EU Regulation 2019/452 by creating an Interdepartmental Screening Council with a 45-day decision window over non-EU investments meeting a 10 % equity stake or €2 million threshold in critical-infrastructure, dual-use, advanced-technology, media, and financial-infrastructure sectors, with no threshold for investments by Russian or Belarusian persons or in oil and petroleum activities. Non-compliance and false declarations carry fines of 5 % of investment value, with a minimum BGN 50,000.

The Significant Investments Review Act 2024 (Act No. 1 of 2024) is Singapore's first horizontal, cross-sector statutory FDI screening regime. The Bill was passed by Parliament on 9 January 2024, assented to by the President on 6 February 2024 and gazetted on 14 February 2024; the Act commenced on 28 March 2024 under the SIRA 2024 (Commencement) Notification (S 228/2024), together with the Significant Investments Review Regulations 2024 (S 229/2024). The Act creates an "ownership-and-control" layer over a limited number of "designated entities" the Minister for Trade and Industry has identified as critical to Singapore's national-security interests, plus an "any entity" call-in power exercisable against firms that have acted against Singapore's national-security interests, regardless of whether they are designated. Acquisitions of ≥5% require post-closing notification within 7 days; acquisitions of ≥12% / ≥25% / ≥50% and cessations of ≥50% / ≥75% controller status require prior ministerial approval. Administered by the Office of Significant Investments Review (OSIR) within MTI. SIRA is the Singaporean structural peer of US CFIUS, EU Regulation 2019/452, the German AWG §§55-62, the French Décret 2014-479, the UK NSI Act 2021, the Netherlands Wet Vifo, and the Canada ICA national-security review.