FDI Attractiveness in Greece (Foreign Direct Investment) (Report‪)‬

Introduction During the last decades, the global foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows have increased substantially from $25 bn in 1973 to $1,271 bn in 2000, (UNCTAD 2003). The competition among countries for the attractiveness of FDI has also increased, especially among countries of the same geographical zone (e.g., EU, Asian Countries etc). Furthermore, the fact that in 2004 ten new countries (Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovak Republic, and Slovenia) became members of the EU increased the "race" for FDI in this region. According to Clegg and Scott-Green (1999), the multinationals have constraints both globally and in regions. This means that a flow of a FDI in one part of the EU might have, as a result, a reduction somewhere else, and this is how the race for the attraction of FDI among the countries of the EU, and especially among the ten new members, can be explained. The progress of the economic integration of the countries of the EU had, as a result, some members to become more attractive for FDI compared to how they were in the past (Oxelheim and Ghauri 2004).