Understanding the WTO Investment Facilitation for Development Agreement (IFDA)

More than 115 WTO members participating in negotiations for an IFDA recently produced the final version of the accord’s text. The participants have also been engaging with the broader WTO membership to advocate for the inclusion of the IFDA as a Plurilateral Agreement under Annex 4 of the Marrakesh Agreement establishing the WTO. Consequently, the debate on whether to legally incorporate the Agreement within the WTO framework- i.e., the legal architecture debate-is likely to be a prominent discussion in the run-up to and at the WTO’s MC13 in Abu Dhabi in February 2024.

The objective of the virtual seminar is to help WTO delegates and capital-based delegates to get up to speed on the latest status of the IFDA in the run-up to the WTO MC13. The session provides a state of play, an understanding of the Agreement's contents, and insights on the political dynamics driving the legal architecture debate. 

The seminar is organized as part of the TAF2+ Umbrella Grant, an initiative financed by UK aid from the UK government. The project since 2020 has been offering timely, highly tailored yet flexible research and advisory support geared towards helping developing countries and LDCs build knowledge and enhance their understanding of technical topics, define positions in line with their national interests, and promote these interests at the WTO with a focus on the JSI discussions on Investment Facilitation and E-commerce.

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