The Workshop
on International Investment Agreements held from 5-9 May in
Singapore, focused on the scope, content, and negotiation of investment
agreements and was targeted at officials responsible for the negotiation and
implementation of investment agreements.
The 2nd Workshop on International Investment Agreements took place
in November in Washington, D.C., to promote familiarity among APEC member
economies of investor-state arbitration under new international investment
agreements.
When they met in Arequipa in June 2008, Peru APEC Ministers Responsible for Trade endorsed the Investment Facilitation Action Plan for 2008-2010 (IFAP) for 2008-2010. Three initial priority areas for implementing the IFAP were selected: e-transparency; reducing investor risk; and simplifying business regulation. An implementation plan for the IFAP, including key performance indicators and reporting methodologies will be developed for endorsement by Ministers Responsible for Trade in July 2009. At its meeting in February 2009, the IEG decided to identify five specific actions in each of the three priority areas, and the IEG will continue to play an important role in implementing the Action Plan.
For the purposes of the APEC-UNCTAD project, Joint Capacity Building Project for Addressing Knowledge Gaps in the Use of Foreign Direct Investment (Stage 1 and 2), four APEC member economies have been selected as examples of best practices and case studies will be done in four areas - i.e. electricity, roads, extractive industries and SMEs. It will be finalised and published by June 2009.
Another joint APEC-UNCTAD project, A Study of the Core Elements in Existing RTAs/FTAs and Bilateral Trade Agreements (Phase 2), builds upon the Phase 1 study which addressed APEC Leaders' call for further work to develop investment principles for RTAs/FTAs. The Phase 2 study is expanding its coverage to 100 international investment agreements and will analyse a greater number of elements in the agreements.
The Ease of Doing Business: Investment at the Sub-National Level to Promote Domestic Economic Integration (Phase I) Study will undertake three case studies at the sub-national level of successful efforts to overcome behind-the-border barriers to investment, and will use the World Bank's Ease of Doing Business indicators as a diagnostic tool.
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