Dubai's economy has long been dependent on its real estate and tourism sectors but, in a bid to diversify, the emirate has started focusing on logistics, financial services and energy, with government-backed initiatives – including an airport city, a financial free zone and a new solar park – driving the rapid growth of each of these sectors.

It is not only a moral impetus that is driving socially responsible investment. The potential for financial returns has made it an attractive proposition for an increasing number of banks and corporates.

Angola, one of Africa's economic success stories over the past decade, is keen to diversify its economy beyond oil. But are investors interested?

The first draft of Myanmar's new and mostly liberal FDI law was passed recently and the EU and the US are set to ease the economic sanctions put in place while the country was under the previous military regime. But despite these positive steps, Myanmar's infrastructure remains weak and investors there face a number of obstacles.

The Arab Spring protests, and the months of political instability that followed, slowed FDI inflows into north Africa. But rather than pulling out of the region entirely, many investors simply put their projects on hold or moved into other more stable economies such as Morocco and Algeria.

The political instability that has engulfed Egypt since the resignation of former president Hosni Mubarak has threatened to further suppress the country's FDI inflows and has led to a huge decline in tourism. But with a new democratically elected government, stability should return and with it investor confidence.

Malaysia's government is targeting achieving high-income status by 2020, and sees foreign investment as being crucial to it realising this goal. However, it is wary of the country's economy being overdependent on business from overseas.

Despite its small size, Antigua and Barbuda's economic integration with other Caribbean jurisdictions gives its companies a huge market to do business with, says the minister of finance, economy and public administration. However, the island's image of being a tax haven is one that will have to be shed in order to achieve bigger growth.

Malaysia's excellent economic performance in recent years has come on the back of its Economic Transformation Programme. Its prime minister and finance minister Dato’ Sri Abdul Tun Najib Razak tells Barbara Njau how the programme has helped diversify the country's economy, which has continued to thrive while much of the rest of the world has struggled.