The report shows that the amount of foreign direct investment flowing into Ireland reached just over $19 billion in 2002, comparing favourably to the figure of $15.7 billion recorded in the previous year, and placing the country tenth in UNCTAD's league table - which is topped by Luxembourg.

Ireland's performance is in contrast to a downward trend in foreign direct investment in the developed world with total FDI in the industrialised world falling from $590 billion in 2001 to $460 billion last year. This reduction has been most acutely felt in the United States and the United Kingdom, which accounted for 54% of the fall, though the organisation stressed that the decline in FDI remained broad-based, with 16 out of 26 nations experiencing a large drop in foreign investment levels. UNCTAD has reasoned that the reduced level of mergers and acquisitions and intra-company loans were significant factors behind two consecutive years of decline.

Countries attempted to arrest the decline in inward investment flows by making changes to their FDI regimes. This was done in 19 nations, with a total of 45 regulatory changes taking place in 2002. The overwhelming majority of the changes were intended to attract FDI, with the most common tool used being changes in taxation, Ireland, Belgium and Canada being notable examples where this happened. The UN also observed an large upswing in the popularity of bilateral investment and taxation treaties by the end of 2002. The number of bilateral investment treaties concluded reached 1,169 whilst there were 1,663 double taxation treaties concluded in that year.