Recently, governments, international organizations, and investors in Central Asia have sought to take the necessary steps to achieve sustainable development (Central Asia Investment Forum (CAIF)<\/a>\u2013<\/a>2022<\/a>,\u00a0 UN – Second Regional SDG<\/span> Summit of Central Asian countries \u2013 2022<\/a>). Generally, Central Asian countries (Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Turkmenistan) benefit from large domestic markets, relatively inexpensive and abundant labour pools, and a wealth of raw materials. In 2021, the region\u2019s foreign trade in goods totalled USD 165.5 billion, a sixfold increase over the last 20 years<\/a>.\u00a0 On the other hand, <\/a>Central Asia is highly vulnerable<\/a> to climate change, with food, water, and energy resources particularly susceptible to climate challenges. Additionally, the region still has non-harmonized regulatory investment environments that are not yet fully aligned with the <\/a>sustainable development agenda.<\/a><\/p>\n These concerns have been setting and backstopping the agenda for sustainable development-oriented investment treaty reform. This shift is reflected in a new generation of BITs with elements that shift the focus from economic development to the wider development implications of investment protection. According to the UNCTAD<\/span> Investment Policy Hub, as of October 2023, the Central Asian states were parties to 214 BITs with countries such as the United States, China, France, Germany, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. Most of these BITs are still in force, and their content varies despite many similarities in terms of both substantive and procedural provisions. \u00a0However, a few include sustainable development elements related to rising human rights, environmental, and labour concerns in their preambles (e.g., Austria\u2013Kazakhstan BIT<\/span><\/a>, Austria\u2013Tajikistan BIT<\/a>, Hungary\u2013Kyrgyzstan BIT<\/a>, and Republic of Korea\u2013Uzbekistan BIT<\/a>).<\/p>\n The United Nations SDGs are complex<\/a>. The 2030 SDG Agenda<\/a> addresses a wide range of concerns in a balanced and integrated manner, including economic, social, and environmental dimensions. Investments are needed to promote more sustainable and responsible agriculture and infrastructure, along with low-carbon, climate-resilient development, innovation, and technologies. Meanwhile, the Universal Declaration on Human Rights<\/a>, UN Covenants<\/a>, UNFCCC<\/a>, together with the Kyoto Protocol<\/a> and Paris Agreement<\/a>, Convention on Biological Diversity<\/a>, Convention to Combat Desertification<\/a>, International Labour Organization Conventions<\/a>, and UNCTAD Investment Policy Framework<\/a> all promote a new generation of investment policies in support of the spirit of the Addis Ababa Action Agenda<\/a>. They call on all states, including those in Central Asia, to reorient their national and international investment regimes toward sustainable development. In light of that, the Central Asian countries have increasingly emphasized sustainable development when negotiating investment treaties.<\/p>\n Despite their positive attempts, Central Asian countries face different levels and types of sustainable development challenges considering various domestic policy preferences and national contexts. Indeed, there are no uniform and fixed standards in determining the level of sustainable development orientation in investment treaties at national and international levels. Nonetheless, as the next section shows, sustainable development gaps in Central Asian BITs are substantial, and significant efforts must be made to ensure that more than preambular declarations are included to meet the region\u2019s sustainable development challenges.<\/p>\n In comparison to the majority of European and U.S. BITs<\/a> that have sought to achieve a balance by incorporating social and economic aspects, Central Asian\u00a0 BITs are of an older generation that simply focus on investment protection and dispute settlement.<\/p>\n Firstly, despite the fact that Central Asian BITs vary from treaty to treaty, the structure of treaties and the content of investment protections are very similar.[1]<\/sup><\/a> Usually, sustainable development is integrated into Central Asian BITs using common approaches via provisions in preambles, human rights-related clauses, CSR<\/span> clauses, and, more recently, clauses relating directly to sustainable development. There are not many cases of such provisions, however, and they appear only rarely, e.g., in the Austria\u2013Kazakhstan BIT<\/a>, Austria\u2013Tajikistan BIT<\/a>, Hungary\u2013Kyrgyzstan BIT<\/a>, Republic of Korea\u2013Uzbekistan BIT<\/a>.<\/p>\n Secondly, sustainable development-related provisions found in Central Asian BIT\u2019s preambles (and linked to values such as national security, public health, labour, human rights, and the environment) are typically declaratory in nature. Whereas such treaty language in preambular or declaratory contexts has important interpretative functions according to Article 31 of the VCLT<\/span><\/a> and a BIT\u2019s meaning is to be derived, inter alia<\/em>, from the treaty\u2019s preamble, such provisions do not create operational legal content, let alone rights and obligations.<\/p>\n Thirdly, Central Asian BITs have been based on other parties\u2019 model BITs and do not even define the concept of FET<\/span> and expropriation.[2]<\/sup><\/a> It is possible that, in the absence of specific references to sustainable development or particular components thereof in BITs, tribunals can still use the methods provided for in the VCLT to interpret the treaty provisions to take into account sustainable development-related concerns.\u00a0 However, given the existing practice of ISDS<\/span> tribunals when interpreting even the new-generation BITs, this solution is hardly optimal.[3]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n It may be said that sustainable development is a relatively novel concept in the context of Central Asian BITs, and it has only recently started finding its way into the growing discussions about the compatibility of investment regimes and broader non-economic interests. A better understanding of the status quo and the trends toward the inclusion of sustainable development-related provisions within Central Asian BITs allows revision of the old-generation BITs and FTAs, and shifting to a new generation of BITs that are more structured, with specific compliance mechanisms to ensure SDGs implementation.<\/p>\n A comprehensive evaluation of the BIT regime in the Central Asia outlines the following:<\/p>\nOverview of Sustainable Development-Oriented Provisions in Central Asian BITs<\/h2>\n