The vigour of global economic expansion has been slowly diminishing in recent years. For many developing countries and economies in transition, per capita income has continued to fall, and poverty remains the single most important concern. Poverty eradication and the revitalization of worldeconomic and industrial growth therefore require a renewed commitment and sense of urgency from policy planners. Industrial Development Global Report 1997 addresses the challenge by focusing on the long-term dynamics of investment and economic growth. It thus emphasizes, as its central message,the crucial importance of economic growth, for which investment is a necessary condition. Part 1 of Global Report 1997 addresses the issues and challenges facing developing countries and economies in transition in their efforts to achieve the levels of investment required to ensure high economic growth. The role of industrial investment is examined from the perspective of globalindustrial change in different regions. The nexus between growth and investment is considered, the factors influencing the levels and efficiency of investment are highlighted and investment and manufacturing trends between 1970 and 1995 are analysed. The links between savings, investment andeconomic growth are investigated to determine the means of financing capital investment at the enterprise level and to find solutions to the problems faced by microenterprises and small enterprises in their efforts to expand. A special feature of Global Report 1997 is the prominence given togovernment policies as an instrument for the promotion of investment, with particular emphasis on the need to tailor such policies to global and national conditions. Part 2 of the Report presents a statistical annex on industrial indicators for 178 countries and territories around the world.