Investment Book Launch, 18 May 2016

Title of Book:               Investment Treaties: Views and Experiences from Developing Countries

Title of Event:              REFORM OF THE INVESTMENT PROTECTION REGIME

                                       VIEWS AND EXPERIENCES FROM DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

Date:                              Wednesday, 18 May 2016, 13:30-15:00

Venue:                           Library Events Room (B-135), Palais des Nations, Geneva

Organizer:                    South Centre and UNOG Library

Description:

The South Centre, in cooperation with UNOG Library, organized the launch of the book entitled “Investment Treaties: Views and Experiences from Developing Countries”. The book examines the relationship between foreign direct investment, investment agreements and economic development. Included is the analysis of five developing countries (South Africa, Indonesia, India, Argentina, and Ecuador) reviewing their approach to international investment agreements and discussing alternative approaches.

Through reviewing investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) cases, the book highlights how investment protection rules and the way they have been interpreted by arbitral tribunals have undermined States’ right to adopt measures to protect public health and challenged the use of policy tools essential for industrialization.

The book also discusses options for rethinking investment-related dispute settlements, including the option to reform the arbitration rules that apply to disputes. It also poses the question: “what investment-related dispute settlement should look like if we were to start anew?”

Programme:

13:30-13:33       Welcome Remarks (3 mins)

UNOG Library

13:33-13:40       Introductory Remarks (7 mins)

Martin Khor, Executive Director of the South Centre

13:40- 14:15      Speakers:  (7 – 8 mins)

Professor Carlos Correa, Special Advisor on Trade and Intellectual Property, the South Centre

Ambassador Xavier Carim, Ambassador/Permanent Representative of South Africa to the WTO

Elizabeth Tuerk, Chief, International Investment Agreements Section, Investment Policies Branch,
Division on Investment and Enterprises, UNCTAD

Kinda Mohamadieh, Research Associate, the South Centre

*Moderator: Vicente Yu, Coordinator, Global Governance for Development Programme, the South Centre

14:15-14:50                   Q & A Session (35 mins)

14:50-15:00                   Closing Remarks (10 mins)

To see photos of the book launch, click here

To watch videos of the book launch, click here

For more information on the book, click here

To buy the book, click here