{"id":7931,"date":"2020-06-20T08:34:26","date_gmt":"2020-06-20T13:34:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.iisd.org\/itn\/?p=7931"},"modified":"2024-08-09T18:30:57","modified_gmt":"2024-08-09T16:30:57","slug":"investment-facilitation-talks-wto-member-group-considers-new-consolidated-text","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.iisd.org\/itn\/2020\/06\/20\/investment-facilitation-talks-wto-member-group-considers-new-consolidated-text\/","title":{"rendered":"Investment Facilitation Talks: WTO member group considers new consolidated text"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The 101 <span class='tooltipsall tooltipsincontent classtoolTips80'>WTO<\/span> members discussing a proposed multilateral framework on investment facilitation are now considering a new \u201cconsolidated text,\u201d which is meant to be a stepping stone for formal negotiations once these begin.<\/p>\n<p>The informal consolidated text, prepared by the group\u2019s coordinator under his own responsibility, was circulated in April 2020 this year. Building on the streamlined text circulated this past January, the updated text brings in textual proposals and suggestions from some WTO members, including multiple language alternatives for various provisions. Among the many areas for further discussion include how to address proposals on temporary entry of investment persons, or varying definitions of investment being considered and what they mean for the framework\u2019s scope. Also unclear are institutional questions, such as how this might eventually fit into the WTO framework.<\/p>\n<p>While the consolidated text reflects another milestone in the investment facilitation \u201cstructured discussions\u201d launched in December 2017, the talks themselves have slowed as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The WTO Members involved in this initiative had previously aimed to launch negotiations in March and announce a \u201cconcrete outcome\u201d at the Twelfth Ministerial Conference, which until recently had been planned for June 2020 in Kazakhstan.<\/p>\n<p>The June event has since been postponed until at least mid-2021. Meanwhile, WTO Members in both the multilateral negotiating tracks and the \u201cjoint initiatives\u201d on investment facilitation, electronic commerce, and micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) have, to varying degrees, continued meeting virtually. However, some WTO Members have been reluctant to agree to any binding decisions or negotiating advances by virtual means.<!--more--><\/p>\n<script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips67','Energy Charter Treaty'); <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips76','multilateral investment court'); <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips80','World Trade Organization'); <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips100','investissement direct \u00e9tranger'); <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips114','Sistema de Tribunales de Inversiones'); <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips116','European Commission'); <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips118','Union europ\u00e9enne'); <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips119','Uni\u00f3n Europea'); <\/script>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The 101 <span class='tooltipsall tooltipsincontent classtoolTips80'>WTO<\/span> members discussing a proposed multilateral framework on investment facilitation are now considering a new \u201cconsolidated text,\u201d which is meant to be a stepping stone for formal negotiations once these begin.<script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips80','World Trade Organization'); <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips100','investissement direct \u00e9tranger'); <\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15869,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[397],"tags":[1917,1918],"class_list":["post-7931","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-investment-facilitation","tag-wto"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iisd.org\/itn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7931","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iisd.org\/itn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iisd.org\/itn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iisd.org\/itn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iisd.org\/itn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7931"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.iisd.org\/itn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7931\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iisd.org\/itn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15869"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iisd.org\/itn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7931"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iisd.org\/itn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7931"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iisd.org\/itn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7931"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}