- Central and Eastern Europe: Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in the Countries of Central and Eastern Europe (CEEC) have reached USD 22.9 billion in 1999, a slight increase compared to the previous year were they reached USD 21.1 billion, indicated the UNCTAD in its annual report on investment throughout the world. This amount represents 3% of the flows of total investments in the world. Poland and the Czech Republic have together attracted more than half of these investment or, respectively USD 7.5 and 5.1 billion. The UNCTAD underlines the performance of these countries which, despite the crisis that have shaken the European markets (Asia, the Russian Federation and Kosovo), have continued to seduce investors. Taking into account the more modest size of their economies, Estonia and Hungary have also achieved honourable levels. On the other hand, despite its size, the Russian Federation recorded a modest amount of USD 2.8 billion against USD 2.7 the previous year. The most active investors in the CEEC have been Germany (18% of the total), followed by the United States (16%) and the Netherlands (12%). The mergers and acquisitions operations carried out by the companies of Western Europe have been especially numerous. The United States also progress in this path, though the average size of their acquisition remains rather small.