What can we learn from regional initiatives on investment facilitation

Event Type
Online Event

Location / Date
Online, 05.10.2020

International Trade Centre (ITC), German Development Institute / Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik (DIE)

This is the fifth of a webinar series on investment facilitation for development, held in the framework of a joint ITC/DIE project on Investment Facilitation for Development.

The webinar will be conducted in an interactive manner and allow for questions by participants.

The emergence of regional initiatives such as the MERCOSUR Protocol, APEC Investment Facilitation Action Plan and the Pan-African Investment Code, which all refer to investment facilitation measures, reflect the strong international consensus on the benefits of investment and the need to enhance the transparency, predictability and efficiency of investment-related frameworks. At the same time, more than one hundred members of the World Trade Organization (WTO) are negotiating an international framework on investment facilitation for development. Against this background, this webinar will discuss the following questions:

• What is the relationship between regional (non-binding) initiatives and the WTO negotiations?
• Could regional initiatives be a building block for WTO negotiations?
• What can we learn from the implementation of regional initiatives?

The webinar will have the following agenda and speakers:

Introduction:

• Rajesh Aggarwal, Chief Trade Facilitation and Policy for Business, ITC

The panel:

• Rebecca Fatima Sta Maria, Executive Director, APEC Secretariat
• Makane Moïse Mbengue, Professor and Director of the Department of Public International Law and International Organization at the Faculty of Law of the University of Geneva
• Gustavo Méndez, Director for Investment and Trade Disciplines, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, International Trade and Worship, Argentina
• Julián Zuluaga, Professor of International Economic Law at Externado University of Colombia

Concluding remarks:

• Karl P. Sauvant, Resident Senior Fellow, Columbia University, CCSI

Moderator:

• Axel Berger, Senior Researcher, German Development Institute / Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik (DIE)DIE

Hinweis

Während unserer Veranstaltungen werden z.T. Foto- und/oder Filmaufnahmen gemacht, die für Zwecke der Veranstaltungsberichterstattung und allgemeinen Öffentlichkeitsarbeit in verschiedenen Medien veröffentlicht werden. Sie haben jederzeit das Recht, die Foto- oder Videograf*innen darauf hinzuweisen, dass Sie nicht aufgenommen werden möchten. / During our events photos and/or videos may be taken which may be published in various media for the purposes of documentation and PR activities. You have the right at any time to point out to the photographer or videographer that you do not want to be photographed or filmed.