12th Annual Forum of Developing Country Investment Negotiators

The 12th Annual Forum of Developing Country Investment Negotiators was held in Cartagena, Colombia, from February 27 to March 1, 2019. It was co-hosted by the Government of Colombia, the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) and the South Centre.

The Forum is the only global platform for government officials exclusively from developing and emerging economies to share experiences and lessons learned from investment negotiations. The Forum gives negotiators and experts an opportunity to discuss emerging issues, review recent legal developments in the field and engage in peer learning with fellow negotiators.

The theme of the 2019 Forum was “Shifting International Investment Law Toward Sustainable Development: Strategies for Renegotiation, Reform and Defence.” The three-day meeting featured a series of sessions devoted to substantive and procedural reforms of investment treaties and investor–state dispute settlement (ISDS).

Participants examined trends and developments in ongoing regional and multilateral reform processes, such as the Working Group III process on multilateral ISDS reform at the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL), as well as the amendment process for the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) Convention. Participants also debated bilateral options such as the negotiation of new treaties and the termination and renegotiation of existing ones.

A full report on this year’s Forum is now available in English, French and Spanish. Additional background documents, including an event agenda, can also be found in the list below.