Klaipėdos universitetas

The article presents the practice of Capacity Building project (CBP) activities underlining the sustainable development importance in the context of Cross Border Cooperation, which was implemented in Denmark, Germany, Poland, Sweden and Lithuania. The article is based on the analysis of statistical data and South Baltic Program documents adopted by the European Commission. The knowledge and experience of CBP formulated in this paper could be useful for future capacity building initiatives in the South Baltic region or in other territorial cooperation programmes. Article authors were official representatives of this project in Lithuania Region and actively participated during the Capacity Building project activities implementation process, took responsibilities during the interview and questionnaire givens collecting in Lithuania, were mentoring the Rent-of-Expert process and made individual consultations, organized trainings and workshops.

The paper concentrates on the international transfer of capital in the form of foreign direct investment (FDI). A relatively high level of investment attractiveness of an economy is required for the attraction of capital in the form of FDI. Inflow of capital in the form of FDI is perceived as a factor stimulating economic development of the so-called catching up economies, and the Visegrad 4 countries can be viewed as such economies. The crucial objective of the paper is to present investment attractiveness of the Visegrad 4 countries in the light of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development / the World Bank reports and EY’s surveys. A parallel objective is to analyse the engagement of the Visegrad 4 countries in international capital transfer in the form of FDI in post-crisis period in order to identify inward and outward FDI flows and stock. The research tools used in the article included literature studies, descriptive analysis and comparative analysis. The undertaken research leads to a conclusion that foreign capital played an important role in the transformation of the V4 economies and their strong integration with the world economy. It contributed to supplementing capital shortages and increasing efficiency. The V4 countries remain net importers of capital in the form of FDI, though the positions of the V4 as investors in the world market have risen slightly over the last decade. It is of vital importance to introduce dynamic and effective actions aiming at promoting the V4 as a location of FDI and to undertake parallel activities directed at stimulating the V4 investment abroad.