IISD at the UNCTAD High-Level IIA Conference 2019

The International Institute for Sustainable Development participated in the High-Level IIA Conference held by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) on November 13, 2019. 

The UNCTAD High-Level IIA Conference was devoted to specific aspects of the international investment agreement (IIA) regime—especially ongoing reform efforts—and featured a full day of discussions. Along with an opening plenary, there was a series of morning breakout sessions on the following subjects: governments' right to regulate while ensuring investment protection; investor–state dispute settlement (ISDS) reform; investment facilitation and promotion; and responsible investment. There were also breakout sessions devoted to region-specific processes in these policy areas. 

Nathalie Bernasconi-Osterwalder, IISD's Senior Director, Economic Law and Policy, and the Executive Director of IISD Europe, and Joe Zhang, Senior Law Advisor, were among the speakers. IISD has a long history of work on the subject of investment law and policy reform, including on the ISDS reform discussions underway in various contexts.

Further details about the UNCTAD event are available on the conference website. Nathalie Bernasconi-Osterwalder's intervention during the morning plenary is available below.