Press Release of Seminar on International Investment and WTO held on 2 March, 2016
Seminar on International Investment and WTO was successfully held on 2 March, 2016
New Delhi: On 2 march 2016, AALCO Secretariat organized a Seminar on “International Investment and WTO” at its Headquarters. The seminar was attended by AALCO Member States and several scholar and research students from more than three Universities based in New Delhi. It started with welcome introductory address by H.E Prof Dr. Rahamat Mohamad, Secretary General of AALCO, who introduced the Guest Speakers Dr. Prabhash Ranjan, Assistant Professor, South Asian University, New Delhi and Professor Abhijit Das, Head Centre for WTO Indian Institute for Foreign Trade, New Delhi.
Dr. Prabhash Ranjan deliberated on the topic “Investor State Dispute Resolution: Current Challenges for Asian and African Countries”. He stated recent trends of international investment focusing on Bilateral Investment Treaty Agreements from investor state dispute settlement perspective pointing substantive as well procedural provisions under Investor State Dispute Settlement (ISDS). He stressed his concern over increasing number of investor- state dispute with respect to extensive interpretation of fair and equitable treatment and legitimate expectations clause in Bilateral Investment Agreements (BITs) by Arbitral Tribunals which is investor friendly. He cited various cases from Asian- African countries which are affecting the economy of the host state. He further presented comparison between WTO dispute settlement mechanism and Investor state dispute settlement mechanism under Bilateral Investment Agreements and addressed WTO limitations in investment. In conclusion he suggested to bring provision of an appellate mechanism under investor State dispute settlement which is at present not included and asked for transparent, clear and balanced approach towards foreign investors as well as host states with inclusion of multilateralism in international investment to avoid extensive interpretation of fair and equitable treatment.
Professor Abhijit Das deliberated on the topic “WTO: Current Challenges for Asian and African Countries in Investment”. He discussed Trade related investment measures agreement (TRIMS) under WTO which is related to foreign investment directly. He emphasized on performance requirement indices to boost FDI which are increasingly prohibited under TRIMS. He further focused on recent impact of foreign Investment on Asian and African Countries with special reference to inflow and outflow of foreign exchange. He mentioned TPP agreement, FTAs and other International investment Agreements (IIAs) on the line of Bilateral Investment Agreements and its impact on host State’s economy. He presented data analysis showing negative impact on economy because outflow of capital was more than inflow in terms of foreign investment in countries like Philippines, Malaysia etc. He said Bilateral Investment Agreements automatically do not create foreign exchange to improve the economic status of host country, it has to focus on performance requirement indices. Mentioning this he added that present Free Trade Agreements (FTAs), International Investment Agreements (IIAs) are not within the WTO’S Umbrella and they are dealt under ICSID convention. He cited several statistics on investment inflow and its results in developing countries are not encouraging and posing loss to economy instead of benefitting because of investor state dispute settlement mechanism. He explained the cases of withdrawal of Bilateral Investment Agreements by South Africa, Bolivia and Venezuela. He further cited case of Al Kharafi and sons vs. Libya, where Libyan government as a host had to pay huge compensation to foreign investor.
With this he concluded by stressing to bring reform to the existing investor state dispute settlement mechanism with inclusion of Appellate provision against award of Arbitral Tribunal, such that host state can have balance of interests. He predicted the probability that investment regulation and control issue might be taken up under the WTO agenda in future .
After the lecture of Professor Abhijit Das, the Seminar was followed by Question and Answer session in which several questions were asked by the participants of AALCO Member states relating to, inter alia, challenge of sovereignty of host states under Bilateral Investment Agreements. The seminar ended with vote of thanks note by H.E Professor Dr. Rahmat Mohamad, Secretary General AALCO with all success.