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Dear Sir or Madam,

I wish to share with you the latest developments in national and 
international investment policy trends, as described in Chapter III of 
UNCTAD World Investment Report 2015. 

At the national level, countries' new investment policy measures have been 
geared predominantly towards investment liberalization, promotion and 
facilitation. In 2014, more than 80 per cent of investment policy measures 
aimed to improve entry conditions and reduce restrictions. A focus was 
investment facilitation and sector‐specific liberalization (e.g. in 
infrastructure and services). New investment restrictions related mostly 
to national security concerns and strategic industries (such as transport, 
energy and defence).

At the international level, countries and regions continue their efforts 
to negotiate and conclude international investment agreements (IIAs). With 
the addition of 31 agreements, the regime has grown to 3271 agreements 
(2,926 bilateral investment treaties and 345 other IIAs) by the end of 
2014. While the annual number of BITs continues to decline, more and more 
countries and economies are engaged in IIA negotiations at regional and 
subregional levels. For example, the five ongoing negotiations on the 
"Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP)", the "Transatlantic Trade and Investment 
Partnership (TTIP)", the "Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership 
(RCEP)", the "Tripartite Free Trade Area (TFTA)", and the "Pacific 
Agreement on Closer Economic Relations (PACER) Plus" involve close to 90 
economies. 

At the same time, countries and regions consider new approaches to 
investment policymaking. Reacting to the growing unease with the current 
functioning of the global IIA regime, together with today's sustainable 
development imperative and the evolution of the investment landscape, at 
least 50 countries and regions have been engaged in reviewing and revising 
their IIA models and formulating new IIA strategies.

There were 42 new investor‐State dispute settlement (ISDS) cases in 2014, 
bringing the total number of known treaty‐based claims to 608. Developing 
countries continue to bear the brunt of these claims as defendants, but 
the share of developed countries is on the rise. 

Best regards,

James Zhan
Director, Investment and Enterprise
Team leader, World Investment Report
UNCTAD
Palais des Nations, Geneva
Tel: +41 22 917 5797
www.unctad.org/diae
www.unctad.org/wir (World Investment Reports)

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