Laos’s recent World Trade Organisation membership will make it a more viable FDI option, but will the investors come?

Malta's membership of the EU and proximity to the Middle East and north Africa have served the country well in recent years, but it still has some way to go before fulfilling its FDI potential.

Dubai's economy has long been dependent on its real estate and tourism sectors but, in a bid to diversify, the emirate has started focusing on logistics, financial services and energy, with government-backed initiatives – including an airport city, a financial free zone and a new solar park – driving the rapid growth of each of these sectors.

It is not only a moral impetus that is driving socially responsible investment. The potential for financial returns has made it an attractive proposition for an increasing number of banks and corporates.

Angola, one of Africa's economic success stories over the past decade, is keen to diversify its economy beyond oil. But are investors interested?

The first draft of Myanmar's new and mostly liberal FDI law was passed recently and the EU and the US are set to ease the economic sanctions put in place while the country was under the previous military regime. But despite these positive steps, Myanmar's infrastructure remains weak and investors there face a number of obstacles.

The Arab Spring protests, and the months of political instability that followed, slowed FDI inflows into north Africa. But rather than pulling out of the region entirely, many investors simply put their projects on hold or moved into other more stable economies such as Morocco and Algeria.

The political instability that has engulfed Egypt since the resignation of former president Hosni Mubarak has threatened to further suppress the country's FDI inflows and has led to a huge decline in tourism. But with a new democratically elected government, stability should return and with it investor confidence.