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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