（标题译文： 主权财富基金投资将有章可循）

U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and officials from Abu Dhabi and Singapore agreed Thursday to basic principles for sovereign wealth funds and the countries they invest in.

The two sets of principles -- one for the funds and the other for recipients -- are aimed at complementing multilateral efforts underway by the International Monetary Fund and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

'The principles we agreed to here today will further those efforts,' Mr. Paulson said in a statement. (Read the full statement.)

The code of conduct addressed the most pressing concern about the state-run funds -- that they may be tempted to invest for political rather than commercial reasons. The joint statement said the funds should make a formal statement that 'investment decisions should be based solely on commercial grounds, rather than to advance, directly or indirectly, the geopolitical goals of the controlling government.'

The practices also call for strong disclosure and governance standards at the funds and say they should compete fairly with the private sector and obey local laws.

Recipient countries shouldn't erect protectionist barriers or discriminate against the funds, according to the principles. They should also have predictable investment rules and be 'as unintrusive as possible, rather than seeking to direct SWF investment,' the statement said.

The statement followed a meeting between officials of the three countries, including Paulson and Deputy Treasury Secretary Robert Kimmitt; Singapore Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam and Tony Tan, deputy chairman of the Government of Singapore Investment Corp., or GIC; as well as with Abu Dhabi Executive Council Member Hamad Al Hurr Al Suwaidi and Hareb Masood Al-Darmaki, executive director of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority sovereign wealth fund, or ADIA.

The U.S. has been leading the push for sovereign wealth funds to come up with a voluntary code of conduct to allay fears that the government-run funds will be used for political rather than economic reasons. The Wall Street Journal reported last month that Treasury officials had met with representatives from the GIC and ADIA to discuss the issue.

The IMF is working with sovereign wealth funds to come up with a set of best practices, and its executive board is holding a meeting Friday to decide on what further steps need to be taken. The OECD is working on a code for recipient countries.

The state-run funds, which have grown rapidly to as much as $3 trillion globally, have come under greater scrutiny as they have shifted more assets into equity holdings.

GIC and ADIA have been among the most active, taking part in the recent capital injections into struggling Wall Street firms. The funds also ranked near the bottom in a best-practices 'scorecard' recently created by Edwin Truman, senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics. ADIA, the world's largest fund -- estimated to control between $500 billion and $875 billion in assets -- ranked last. GIC, estimated to have between $100 billion and $330 billion in assets, was third from the bottom.

TOM BARKLEY