Cagliari Free Zone (CFZ) took part in Selecting Italy 2025 – the forum for Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) attraction and regional value chain development, held in Trieste on November 4-5. The event was an opportunity to meet leading institutional, industry and logistics experts, and to capture the latest sector trends and strategies.
Bruno Casella (UNCTAD): FDI Trends and the New Paradigm
One of the highlights was the keynote session by Bruno Casella, Senior Economist at UNCTAD, who provided a data-driven review of global FDI flows for 2024 and early 2025. His analysis revealed an 11% drop in global FDI for the second year in a row—a rare event after more than a decade of high volatility. The current international climate is shaped by structural fragility, intensified by geopolitical shocks that are limiting capital flows and raising competition worldwide.
Despite a more than 20% fall in FDI into Italy for 2024, the country performed better than the EU average (-50%), with a promising outlook for 2025: projections suggest investments may rebound by 50%, returning to pre-pandemic levels.
Key drivers of this resilience in Italy are a strong position in two global strategic axes:
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Digital: electronics, data centers, semiconductors
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Green: renewable energy, advanced health and digital health services
Casella identified the new global paradigm as a “selective geoeconomy”—a transition from open globalization to complex multipolar competition. The dominant force influencing investor decisions is now geopolitics: tariffs, sanctions, investment screening, and active industrial policy are reshaping how and where capital goes.
The Three Strategic Pillars for Investors
To succeed in today’s environment, Casella recommends a focus on:
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Building Trust and Managing Uncertainty: Clear storytelling, transparent policy signals, robust investor aftercare.
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Geopolitical Adaptation: Skills in managing alliances, proactive marketing of a region’s unique geopolitical profile.
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Harnessing Transformation: Prioritizing digital, green, and health-related value chains with rapid infrastructure and innovation capacity.
What This Means for CFZ and Sardinia
Participation at Trieste reinforced CFZ’s mission to offer investors:
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Strategic access to Mediterranean and EU markets, with physical and digital infrastructure ready for rapid deployment.
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A competitive, trusted environment combining fiscal incentives with full-cycle investor support—including onboarding, lifestyle integration, and post-investment aftercare.
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Strong alignment with the international “pivot to resilience”, digital, and green sectors—making Sardinia a natural choice for advanced and future-ready investment.
Our experience confirms the importance of a holistic approach: logistics, governance, and business climate must work in concert with tailored services for companies and talent.
Would you like to learn more about how CFZ can become the strategic gateway for your next investment? Contact our team or book a business discovery session.