Doha opens its doors this Sunday to one of the year’s most closely watched gatherings on the global economic calendar: the ninth edition of the World Investment Forum, hosted by Qatar in partnership with the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). For three days, until Tuesday, the Qatari capital will bring together more than 5,000 participants and 406 speakers from across the world to debate the future of global capital flows.
The symbolic opening ceremony took place on Saturday, with Qatar’s flag raised alongside the flag of the United Nations, formally marking the start of proceedings. Heads of government, ministers of investment, trade and economy, corporate executives, officials from international organisations, entrepreneurs and academics are all expected to attend what is shaping up to be one of the largest economic gatherings of the year.
The programme is dense: 108 sessions and dialogues spread across eight thematic tracks, covering investment in artificial intelligence, entrepreneurship and small and medium-sized enterprises, investment policy, sustainable finance, tourism and culture, climate and environment, as well as investment promotion and special economic zones. For the first time in the forum’s history, artificial intelligence has been given a dedicated track of its own, a telling choice given that AI infrastructure has become the world’s largest strategic investment sector, according to UNCTAD’s 2026 report.
The question running through this year’s sessions is straightforward yet consequential: will developing economies manage to capture a share of this technology-driven investment wave, or will they be left behind? For the first time, the forum will also tackle the concept of « investing for peace », essentially the capital needs of fragile states and countries emerging from conflict as they work to rebuild and restart their economies.
The figures released by UNCTAD illustrate just how uneven the playing field remains: global foreign direct investment reached 1.6 trillion dollars in 2025, yet more than 80 percent of that total flowed into just twenty countries. It is precisely this imbalance that the forum aims to address, by encouraging cross-border partnerships capable of redirecting a greater share of investment toward the world’s poorest nations.
An open platform will also give start-ups and participating countries the chance to pitch projects and investment opportunities, alongside first-hand accounts from entrepreneurs who have built international partnerships of their own across the globe.
