Resources and Events
Resources
World Investment Report 2014
United Nations Conference on Trade and Sustainable Development, June 2014
UNCTAD’s World Investment Report is an annual publication that focuses on trends in foreign direct investment (FDI) worldwide, at the regional and country levels and emerging measures to improve its contribution to development. The 2014 report shows that FDI inflows increased by 9 percent in 2013 to US$1.45 trillion. Developing countries increased their global share of FDI inflows to a record level of 54 percent, and developing Asia now attracts more inward FDI than either the EU or the United States. As investors, developing and transition countries have been steadily increasing their investments abroad and last year they accounted for a record 39 per cent of global FDI outflows—up from just 12 per cent in the early 2000s. Because United Nations member States and other stakeholders are currently negotiating a post-2015 development framework – the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)—this year’s report focuses on how private finance can be mobilized for investment in sustainable development sectors, such as climate change adaptation, infrastructure development, food security, health, and education. The report is available here: http://unctad-worldinvestmentforum.org/about-wif-2014/world-investment-report-2014/
International Law and Developing Countries: Essays in Honour of Kamal Hossain
Edited by Sharif Bhuiyan, Philippe Sands and Nico Schrijver, Brill, February 2014
This book celebrates Kamal Hossain’s lifelong and significant contribution to the development of international law and the cause of developing countries. It brings together an interview with Hossain by the editors, and thirteen essays written in his honour by scholars representing a wide spectrum of expertise in international law. The interview provides an introduction to the rich and varied life of a statesman, a drafter of his country’s constitution, and an acclaimed constitutional and international lawyer. The subjects covered in the essays include the new international economic order, human rights, counter-terrorism, climate change, oil and gas law, arbitration, law of the sea, international trade law and judicial reform. These essays offer important perspectives on the issues addressed. More information is available here: http://www.brill.com/products/book/international-law-and-developing-countries
The Right to Regulate in International Investment Law
Catharine Titi, Hart Publishing, June 2014
Since the inception of the international investment law system, investment promotion and protection have been the raison d’être of investment treaties and States have confined their policy space in order to attract foreign investment and protect their investors abroad. Languishing in relative obscurity until recently, the right to regulate has gradually come to the spotlight as a key component of negotiations on new generation investment agreements around the globe. States and regional organisations, including, notably, the European Union and the United States, have started to examine ways in which to safeguard their regulatory power and guide—and delimit—the interpretive power of arbitral tribunals, by reserving their right to pursue specific public policy objectives. This book explores the status quo of the right to regulate, in order to offer an appraisal and a reference tool for treaty makers, thus contributing to a better understanding of the concept and the broader discourse on how to enhance the investment law system’s legitimacy. More information is available here: http://www.hartpub.co.uk/BookDetails.aspx?ISBN=9781849466110
The Foundations of International Investment Law: Bringing Theory into Practice
Edited by Zachary Douglas, Joost Pauwelyn, and Jorge E. Viñuales, Oxford University Press, May 2014
International investment law is one of the fastest growing areas of international law. It has led to the signing of thousands of agreements, mostly in the form of investment contracts and bilateral investment treaties. Also, in the last two decades, there has been an exponential growth in the number of disputes being resolved by investment arbitration tribunals. Yet the legal principles at the basis of international investment law and arbitration remain in a state of flux. Perhaps the best illustration of this phenomenon is the wide disagreement among investment tribunals on some of the core concepts underpinning the regime, such as investment, property, regulatory powers, scope of jurisdiction, applicable law, or the interactions with other areas of international law. The purpose of this book is to revisit these conceptual foundations in order to shed light on the practice of international investment law. The first part of the book focuses on the ‘infrastructure’ of the investment regime or, more specifically, on the structural arrangements that have been developed to manage foreign investment transactions and the potential disputes arising from them. The second part of the book identifies the common conceptual bases of an array of seemingly unconnected practical problems in order to clarify the main stakes and offer balanced solutions. The third part addresses the main sources of ‘regime stress’ as well as the main legal mechanisms available to manage such challenges to the operation of the regime. More information is available here: http://ukcatalogue.oup.com/product/9780199685387.do
Events
September 2014
1-2
Arbitration of Energy Disputes: New Challenges,Danish Institute of Arbitration, Copenhagen, Denmark, http://www.voldgiftsinstituttet.dk/dk/Menu/ENERGY+CONFERENCE/Program
4-5
Swedish Arbitration Days 2014 – Experts in International Arbitration,The Swedish Arbitration Association, Stockholm, Sweden, http://swedisharbitration.se/event/swedish-arbitration-days-2014/
October 2014
13-16
World Investment Forum 2014: Investing in Sustainable Development, UNCTAD, Geneva, Switzerland, http://unctad-worldinvestmentforum.org/
20 – 24
Intergovernmental Forum on Mining, Minerals, Metals and Sustainable Development, UNCTAD, Geneva, Switzerland, http://unctad.org/en/Pages/MeetingDetails.aspx?meetingid=492
November 2014
12-13
Raising the Bar: Home Country Efforts to Regulate Foreign Investment for Sustainable Development, Columbia University, New York, United States, http://ccsi.columbia.edu/2014/01/01/raising-the-bar-home-country-efforts-to-regulate-foreign-investment-for-sustainable-development/
December 2014
8-9
The Political Economy of International Investment Agreements, German Development Institute and International Investment Initiative of the World Trade Institute , Bonn, Germany, http://www.die-gdi.de/veranstaltungen/internationalinvestment-agreements/
March 2015
9-14
Executive Training Program on Sustainable Investments in Agriculture, Columbia University, New York, United States, http://ccsi.columbia.edu/2012/03/16/agtraining/