{"id":8857,"date":"2022-03-30T08:40:12","date_gmt":"2022-03-30T06:40:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cf.iisd.net\/itn\/?p=8857"},"modified":"2024-08-09T18:32:19","modified_gmt":"2024-08-09T16:32:19","slug":"structured-discussions-on-investment-facilitation-developments-over-the-last-4-months","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.iisd.org\/itn\/2022\/03\/30\/structured-discussions-on-investment-facilitation-developments-over-the-last-4-months\/","title":{"rendered":"Structured discussions on investment facilitation: Developments over the last 4 months"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>On December 10, 2021, <span class='tooltipsall tooltipsincontent classtoolTips80'>WTO<\/span> members who are signatories to the Joint Statement Initiative on investment facilitation adopted a statement (contained in document <a href=\"https:\/\/www.meti.go.jp\/press\/2021\/12\/20211214002\/20211214002-1.pdf\">WT\/L\/1130<\/a>). In this statement, they welcomed the progress made in negotiations, \u201caiming to conclude the text negotiations by the end of 2022.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In the first two months of 2022, negotiating meetings were held on January 26 and 27, as well as on February 14 and 15. A meeting of the Discussion Group on \u201cscope\u201d took place on February 1.<\/p>\n<p>According to documents <a href=\"https:\/\/docs.wto.org\/dol2fe\/Pages\/FE_Search\/FE_S_S009-DP.aspx?language=E&amp;CatalogueIdList=282625,282419,282264,282139,281986,282061,281940,280706,280535,280214&amp;CurrentCatalogueIdIndex=9&amp;FullTextHash=&amp;HasEnglishRecord=True&amp;HasFrenchRecord=True&amp;HasSpanishRecord=True\">INF\/IFD\/W\/42<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/docs.wto.org\/dol2fe\/Pages\/FE_Search\/FE_S_S009-DP.aspx?language=E&amp;CatalogueIdList=282625,282419,282264,282139,281986,282061,281940,280706,280535,280214&amp;CurrentCatalogueIdIndex=8&amp;FullTextHash=&amp;HasEnglishRecord=True&amp;HasFrenchRecord=True&amp;HasSpanishRecord=True\">INF\/IFD\/W\/43<\/a>, negotiators have continued discussions on issues such as:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The agreement\u2019s scope and possible exclusions<\/li>\n<li>Definitions of \u201cauthorization\u201d and \u201cinvestor of another Member\u201d<\/li>\n<li><span class='tooltipsall tooltipsincontent classtoolTips75'>MFN<\/span> treatment\/non-discrimination<\/li>\n<li>Transfers and payments<\/li>\n<li>Supplier\u2013development programs<\/li>\n<li>Home state obligations<\/li>\n<li>Special and differential treatment (including implementation)<\/li>\n<li>Investment facilitation needs assessments.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Participants held a dedicated session on needs assessment on February 14 with the participation of representatives from the International Trade Centre, the Inter-American Development Bank, the <span class='tooltipsall tooltipsincontent classtoolTips44'>OECD<\/span>, <span class='tooltipsall tooltipsincontent classtoolTips7'>UNCTAD<\/span>, the World Economic Forum, the World Bank Group, and trade facilitation experts from the WTO Secretariat.<\/p>\n<p>The sixth revision of the main negotiating document (the \u201cEaster\u201d Text) (INF\/IFD\/RD\/74\/Rev.6) was circulated to members, as well a list of \u201cPriority Work Areas\u201d set to be addressed from February to April this year.<\/p>\n<p>Based on the schedule of meetings adopted by participants for the first half of 2022, the next negotiating sessions will be held on: April 6\u20137; May 4\u20135; June 2\u20133; June 29\u201330; and July 20\u201321.<!--more--><\/p>\n<script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips7','United Nations Conference on Trade and Development'); <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips8','Conferencia de las Naciones Unidas sobre Comercio y Desarrollo'); <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips44','Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development'); <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips75','most-favoured nation'); <\/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('.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>On December 10, 2021, <span class='tooltipsall tooltipsincontent classtoolTips80'>WTO<\/span> members who are signatories to the Joint Statement Initiative on investment facilitation adopted a statement (contained in document WT\/L\/1130). In this statement, they welcomed the progress made in negotiations, \u201caiming to conclude the text negotiations by the end of 2022.\u201d<script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips80','World Trade Organization'); <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips116','European Commission'); <\/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":[1917,1918],"class_list":["post-8857","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\/8857","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=8857"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.iisd.org\/itn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8857\/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=8857"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iisd.org\/itn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8857"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iisd.org\/itn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8857"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}