{"id":8553,"date":"2021-10-07T08:46:43","date_gmt":"2021-10-07T13:46:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cf.iisd.net\/itn\/?p=8553"},"modified":"2024-08-09T18:31:58","modified_gmt":"2024-08-09T16:31:58","slug":"structured-discussions-on-investment-facilitation-continue-at-the-wto","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.iisd.org\/itn\/2021\/10\/07\/structured-discussions-on-investment-facilitation-continue-at-the-wto\/","title":{"rendered":"Structured discussions on investment facilitation continue at the WTO"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Following the circulation of the \u201cEaster text\u201d last April, which consolidated the two main negotiating documents used in the negotiations (the Informal Consolidated Text and the Revised Text), and will serve as the main basis for drafting any ultimate agreement on investment facilitation, participants in the structured discussions on investment facilitation have continued to meet over the last several months.<\/p>\n<p>In a<a href=\"https:\/\/www.wto.org\/english\/news_e\/news21_e\/infac_12may21_e.htm\"> meeting in May<\/a>, participants focused on the issues of transfers and payments, focal points, domestic regulatory coherence, domestic supplier databases, cross-border cooperation, and provisions on responsible business conduct.<\/p>\n<p>At a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wto.org\/english\/news_e\/news21_e\/infac_17jun21_e.htm\">meeting in June<\/a>, participants discussed texts prepared by the coordinator on three topics: transparency of investment measures, responsible business conduct, and a possible <span class='tooltipsall tooltipsincontent classtoolTips75'>MFN<\/span> clause. Time was also spent on implementation, technical assistance, and capacity building for developing and LDC signatories.<\/p>\n<p>According to an <a href=\"https:\/\/can01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fdocs.wto.org%2Fdol2fe%2FPages%2FSS%2Fdirectdoc.aspx%3Ffilename%3Dq%3A%2FINF%2FIFD%2FW35.pdf%26Open%3DTrue&amp;data=04%7C01%7Csleal%40iisd.org%7C2c84f347089846507e2308d96c782f32%7C01a20ec6cfd9471cb34bedc36161c3ce%7C1%7C0%7C637660086938097119%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C1000&amp;sdata=ypNjS3yyeJK5pwQszhHAc3r1OQhI4d%2FQ02VxZBaivk8%3D&amp;reserved=0\">annotated agenda<\/a>, at a meeting in mid-July, members received reports from facilitators on scope,\u00a0 movement of business persons, and draft provisions of the \u201cEaster Text\u201d, including the preamble, objectives, measures against corruption, dispute settlement and final provisions. In addition, participants conducted a stock-taking exercise to aid in planning for upcoming meetings.<\/p>\n<p>At the end of July, the coordinator issued a revised \u201cEaster Text\u201d containing updates to several sections including to Sections II (\u201cTransparency of investment measures\u201d); III (\u201cStreamlining and speeding up administrative procedures\u201d); IV (\u201cFocal points, domestic regulatory coherence and cross-border cooperation\u201d); and, VI (\u201cSustainable investment\u201d). It also includes some new definitions in Section I \u201cScope and general principles\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>At the beginning of August, the coordinator circulated revised text for the preamble, as well as for Articles 1 on Scope, 24 on Cross-Border Cooperation, and 35 on Dispute Settlement.<\/p>\n<p>Further meetings will take place in September, October, and November in the lead up to the 12th Ministerial Conference, which will be held November 30 to December 3, 2021.<!--more--><\/p>\n<script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips32','International Institute for Sustainable Development<!--more-->'); <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips33','Institut international du d\u00e9veloppement durable'); <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips34','Instituto Internacional para el Desarrollo Sostenible'); <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips67','Energy Charter Treaty'); <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips68','foreign direct investment'); <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips72','Investment Court System'); <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips75','most-favoured nation'); <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips80','World Trade Organization'); <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips104','responsabilit\u00e9 sociale des entreprises'); <\/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>Following the circulation of the \u201cEaster text\u201d last April, which consolidated the two main negotiating documents used in the negotiations (the Informal Consolidated Text and the Revised Text), and will serve as the main basis for drafting any ultimate agreement on investment facilitation, participants in the structured discussions on investment facilitation have continued to meet over the last several months.<script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips118','Union europ\u00e9enne'); <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips119','Uni\u00f3n Europea'); <\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":26,"featured_media":15869,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[397],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8553","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iisd.org\/itn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8553","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\/26"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iisd.org\/itn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8553"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.iisd.org\/itn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8553\/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=8553"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iisd.org\/itn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8553"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iisd.org\/itn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8553"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}