Expert Meeting on Transformation of the International Investment Agreement Regime

UNCTAD will convene an Expert Meeting on "The Transformation of the International Investment Agreement Regime" from 25 to 27 February 2015 in Geneva, Switzerland.

Experts, including a wide range of stakeholders from the investment and development community, will discuss today's pressing reform issues and identify concrete strategies and action points that will help shape a sustainable-development friendly international investment framework and improved global investment governance.

This Meeting will advance the discussions that were commenced at the IIA Conference “Reforming the International Investment Agreements Regime” at the World Investment Forum 2014 (16 October 2014). The objective of the intensive three-day meeting in February is to develop a roadmap for reform through an open and inclusive multi-stakeholder approach and thereby carry forward the work of the IIA Conference.

The October IIA Conference 2014 benefitted from statements by more than 50 high-level speakers, including chief IIA negotiators of many countries, senior business representatives as well as representatives from relevant intergovernmental organizations and civil society that addressed the challenges arising from international investment agreements (IIAs) and considered ways to reform the international investment policy regime.

In so doing, the IIA Conference:

• sketched the contours of a roadmap for reform of the IIA regime;
• recognized that Investment Policy Framework for Sustainable Development (IPFSD) and the IIA reform paths identified in the World Investment Report 2014 and 2013 could serve as valuable starting points; and
• agreed that reform should be gradual but comprehensive

Participants called upon UNCTAD to provide a multilateral platform for engagement on investment policy issues and to work with other stakeholders to further design the roadmap for the IIA reform.

Background material

• Recent trends in IIAs and ISDS (IIA Issues Note)
• Note by the Secretariat: Transformation of the international investment agreement regime
• IIA Conference – 16 October 2014: The written statements of lead discussants offer insights into various reform proposals made. A technical summary prepared by the UNCTAD secretariat provides an overview of the discussions
• World Investment Report 2014 (WIR14) – Investing in the SDGs: An Action Plan
• Investment Policy Framework for Sustainable Development (IPFSD)
• Reform of the IIA Regime: Four Paths of Action and a Way Forward (IIA Issues Note)
• Reform of Investor-State Dispute Settlement (IIA Issues Note)
• Recent Developments in Investor-State Dispute Settlement in 2013 and 2012 (IIA Issues Notes)
• Series on International Investment Agreements (Pink Series)
• Series on International Investment Policies for Development (Yellow Series)
• UNCTAD’s IIA Navigator

For further information please contact us at: WIF_IIA_Conference@unctad.org