New Delhi, Dec. Dec 7 (IANS): The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) has declared 'Invest India' as winner of the 2020 United Nations Investment Promotion Award in a ceremony at its headquarters in Geneva.

The Award recognises and celebrates the outstanding achievements of the world's best-practice investment promotion agencies. The evaluation was based on UNCTAD's assessment of work undertaken by 180 national investment promotion agencies across the world.

The Covid-19 pandemic had generated challenges for investment promotion agencies (IPAs), forcing them to shift focus from routine investment promotion and facilitation towards crisis management, notification of government emergency and economic relief measures, provision of crisis support services, and contribution to national Covid-19 business response efforts.

All this was being done while agencies had closed offices, moved functions online and asked staff to work from home. In March, UNCTAD constituted a team to monitor IPAs response to the pandemic.

UNCTAD reported best practices from investment promotion agencies in the IPA Observer publications in April and July. IPAs response to the pandemic became the basis for the evaluation of the 2020 United Nations Investment Promotion Award.

UNCTAD highlighted good practices followed by 'Invest India' such as the Business Immunity Platform, Exclusive Investment Forum webinar series, its social media engagement and focus Covid response teams (such as business reconstruction, stakeholder outreach and supplier outreach) created as a response to the pandemic in its publications.

Invest India has also shared long-term strategies and practices being followed for investment promotion, facilitation and retention at UNCTAD's high-level brainstorming sessions.

UNCTAD is the central agency which monitors performance of investment promotion agencies and identifies global best practices. Germany, South Korea, and Singapore have been some of the past winners of the award.