International Investment Agreements Should Promote Inclusive
Development
Doha, Qatar, April 22, 2012
“Investment agreements should be
designed to promote inclusive development, which can create
sustainable sources of productive employment, a big challenge for
the poor world”.
This was the main message of the World Investment Forum’s session on
International Investment Agreements (IIAs) organized here today on
the sidelines of UNCTAD XIII. The Conference was chaired by Anabel
González, Minister of Foreign Trade, Costa Rica and included
distinguished speakers from the governments including regulatory and
investment promotion agencies, private sector, academics and CSOs.
James Zhan, Director UNCTAD Division on Investment and Enterprise
emphasized the role of investment for sustainable and inclusive
development in his opening statement.
Jonathan Kallmer, Deputy Assistant US Trade Representative said that
the IIAs should provide opportunities to stakeholders and advance
the objectives of development. He also favoured policy space in IIAs
for regulation in public interest. These views were shared by
several other speakers.
The speakers were of the view that there is a need to focus on core
things that parties desirous of entering into an investment
agreement agree to instead of making it unnecessarily complex by
incorporating contentious issues.
Some speakers wondered whether Bilateral Investment Treaties (BITs)
create stable environment for investment, whether BITs can lead to
more FDI flows, whether they are a means to promote economic
governance, and also whether countries need BITs, given the fact
that many developing countries are getting FDI inflows from
countries with whom they do not have any investment agreement.
On the other hand, some speakers advocated for making the IIAs more
comprehensive in scope and coverage by including issues like
competition policy, intellectual property, environmental protection
regulations, legal framework for managing capital risks, public
health and safety, employment conditions and worker’s rights, among
others, under their ambit.
Luzius Wasescha, Ambassador of Switzerland to WTO and EFTA commented
that the IIA regime in some respects is even stronger than the
international trade regime. He also argued that IIAs should not
constrain domestic policy space and that home countries have a role
to play for better balancing the rights and obligations of
investors.
Mark Halle, Director, Trade and Investment, and European
Representative, IISD, Switzerlandfurther argued that risks
associated with already existing old generation BITs need to be
reduced. “BITs should be based on a new model which is more
broad-based and grounded on the principles of sustainable and
inclusive development”.
Pradeep S Mehta, Secretary General CUTS International, emphasised in
his statement that the concept of sustainable development should not
be confined to environment alone as it also has two other equally
important pillars, i.e. economy and equity. The three together
define a comprehensive concept for balanced and inclusive
development. According to him IIAs should be designed and
implemented based on this comprehensive concept of sustainability.
Mehta also proposed a possible work agenda for UNCTAD Division on
Investment and Enterprise. This should include: revisiting the old
discussions on drafting and adopting UN Guidelines for TNCs, so that
corporate behavior is better regulated.
He added that the UNCTAD should also carry out analysis of existing
BITs to determine their pros and cons; developing, in collaboration
with other relevant inter-governmental and non-governmental
organisations, best practices and principles for a model BIT that
promotes inclusive and sustainable development; and assisting
developing countries negotiate better BITs.
The emerging consensus at the Conference was that developing
countries should focus on building their capacities to negotiate
BITs and IIAs that further their own development objectives.
For more information, please contact:
Kshitiz Sharma, Assistant Director CUTS International, +974-55004828 (Doha,
Qatar),
ks@cuts.org
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