According to a study by the UNCTAD (United Nations Conference on Trade and Development), the number of bilateral agreements for the promotion and the protection of foreign investments increased spectacularly in the 1990s. In fact it went from 385 at the end of the 1980s to a total of 1,875 (involving 173 countries) at the end of the 1990s. The UNCTAD also notes that: a) the number of agreements concluded between developing countries, between developing countries and Central and Eastern European countries and between Central and Eastern European countries increased very strongly, rising from 63 at the end of the 1980s to 833 at the end of the 1990s. However, previously, this type of agreement was mainly concluded between developed countries and developing countries and this on the initiative of the first; b) the countries of Western Europe have concluded the largest number of bilateral agreements (904), or 49% of the total number of agreements; c) Canada, Japan and the United States, much slower to conclude these kinds of agreements, made noticeable use of them in the 1990s, concluding in total 75 bilateral agreement (respectively 24, 8 and 43); d) the countries of Asia and the Pacific come in front out of the developing countries, reaching a total of 842 agreements at the end of 1999 against 428 for the African countries. The countries of Latin America counted, for their part, 366 agreements (including the Caribbean countries) and the countries of Central and Eastern EUROPE 6333, the most of which concluded in the 1990s; e) in Europe, Germany is the country that concluded the largest number of agreements, followed by Switzerland (95), France and the United Kingdom (92 each); f) concerning the developing countries and the CEECs, the lead group is lead by China (94), followed by Romania (90) and Egypt (84). Information: Mrs Victoria Aranda, Section of policies concerning international investment, Division on investment, technology and the development of companies. UNCTAD. Tel: (+41-22) 907 49 69, Fax: 907 01 94; e-mail: victoria.aranda@unctad.org; Internet: http: //http://www.unctad.org .