The International Institute for Sustainable Development participated in the High-Level IIA Conference held by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) on November 13, 2019. 

The UNCTAD High-Level IIA Conference was devoted to specific aspects of the international investment agreement (IIA) regime—especially ongoing reform efforts—and featured a full day of discussions. Along with an opening plenary, there was a series of morning breakout sessions on the following subjects: governments' right to regulate while ensuring investment protection; investor–state dispute settlement (ISDS) reform; investment facilitation and promotion; and responsible investment. There were also breakout sessions devoted to region-specific processes in these policy areas. 

Nathalie Bernasconi-Osterwalder, IISD's Senior Director, Economic Law and Policy, and the Executive Director of IISD Europe, and Joe Zhang, Senior Law Advisor, were among the speakers. IISD has a long history of work on the subject of investment law and policy reform, including on the ISDS reform discussions underway in various contexts.

Further details about the UNCTAD event are available on the conference website. Nathalie Bernasconi-Osterwalder's intervention during the morning plenary is available below.

The 13th Annual Forum of Developing Country Investment Negotiators was held virtually from September 3-11, 2020. The meeting was organized by the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) and hosted by the Government of Thailand. 

The Forum has been held annually since 2007 and is designed specifically for government officials from developing countries. The 2020 edition drew over 260 participants from 69 countries and over 40 regional and international institutions and organizations.

Each event has a different theme, built around the latest trends and issues in the field of international investment law and policy, and is organized to allow time for discussion, debate, and peer learning among the participants involved. Speakers often include investment law experts, civil society members, representatives from international and regional organizations, and others working in this field.

To learn more about the Forum and its history, please visit the following website. The meeting report and agenda from the 2020 Forum are available in English, French, and Spanish through the links below.

The 12th Annual Forum of Developing Country Investment Negotiators was held in Cartagena, Colombia, from February 27 to March 1, 2019. It was co-hosted by the Government of Colombia, the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) and the South Centre.

The Forum is the only global platform for government officials exclusively from developing and emerging economies to share experiences and lessons learned from investment negotiations. The Forum gives negotiators and experts an opportunity to discuss emerging issues, review recent legal developments in the field and engage in peer learning with fellow negotiators.

The theme of the 2019 Forum was “Shifting International Investment Law Toward Sustainable Development: Strategies for Renegotiation, Reform and Defence.” The three-day meeting featured a series of sessions devoted to substantive and procedural reforms of investment treaties and investor–state dispute settlement (ISDS).

Participants examined trends and developments in ongoing regional and multilateral reform processes, such as the Working Group III process on multilateral ISDS reform at the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL), as well as the amendment process for the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) Convention. Participants also debated bilateral options such as the negotiation of new treaties and the termination and renegotiation of existing ones.

A full report on this year’s Forum is now available in English, French and Spanish. Additional background documents, including an event agenda, can also be found in the list below.

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For more than a decade, negotiators from developing countries have gathered to share experiences and discuss ways to design better deals and avoid crippling arbitrations.

The goal of the Annual Forum of Developing Country Investment Negotiators (Annual Forum) is to ensure that developing countries are able to attract responsible investment that advances sustainable development while safeguarding their legitimate policy space.

The 11th Annual Forum was held in Nairobi, Kenya, on February 7–9, 2018. It was co-hosted by the Kenya Investment Authority (KenInvest), the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) and the South Centre.

The Annual Forum provides a unique platform for discussing current trends and perspectives aimed at ensuring that investment agreements support sustainable development goals. It gives participants an opportunity to share common experiences, discuss emerging issues, review recent legal developments, and network with colleagues from other developing countries, experts in the field and members of civil society.

The forum addressed two major trends that are changing the face of investment negotiations today:

• The growth of multilateral and regional negotiations
• The expansion of the scope of agreements to include a host of issues, such as trade and other economic dimensions, that had previously been negotiated separately

What do these trends mean for the role of developing countries in designing next-generation treaties? How do these questions relate to linking investment to sustainable development? How will these trends alter the structure of bilateral investment treaties? What is the most appropriate scope of agreements? Should negotiations be bilateral, regional or multilateral? Would it be more effective to negotiate separate agreements, or should trade and investment be chapters of the same deal? These are among the challenges addressed in Nairobi.

• View the forum agenda
• View the forum report

Registration was limited to delegates from developing country governments and regional organizations who are actively involved in investment negotiations or disputes. For more information please contact [email protected]

For more information on the Annual Forum of Developing Country Investment Negotiators, please visit http://www.iisd.org/story/annual-forum-developing-country-investment-negotiators/ and view our video: http://www.iisd.org/library/annual-forum-developing-country-investment-negotiators

L'onzième Forum annuel des négociateurs d’investissement des pays en développement se tiendra à Nairobi, au Kenya, du 7 au 9 février 2018.

Cet évènement a été organisé par l’Institut international du développement durable (IISD) et le Centre Sud, et accueilli par l’Autorité kenyane de l’investissement (KenInvest).

Le Forum a abordé deux grandes tendances qui transforment les négociations relatives à l’investissement aujourd’hui :

• le développement des négociations multilatérales et régionales, et
• l’expansion de la portée des accords pour y inclure une foule d’enjeux tels que le commerce et d’autres dimensions économiques, qui étaient auparavant négociés séparément.

Que signifient ces tendances pour le rôle des pays en développement dans l’élaboration des traités de nouvelle génération ? En quoi ces questions concernent-elles l’établissement d’un lien entre l’investissement et le développement durable ? Comment ces tendances vont-elles modifier la structure des traités bilatéraux d’investissement ? Quel est le champ d’application le plus approprié pour ces accords ? Les négociations devraient-elles être bilatérales, régionales ou multilatérales ? Serait-il plus efficace de négocier des accords séparés, ou est-ce que le commerce et l’investissement devraient être des chapitres d’un même accord ? Voilà quelques-uns des défis qui ont été abordés à Nairobi.

• Voir l'agenda du forum
• Voir le rapport du forum

Al 11º Foro Anual de Negociadores de Inversión de Países en Desarrollo se celebró en Nairobi, Kenia, del 7 al 9 de fevrero de 2018.

El Foro estará fue organizado por el Instituto Internacional para el Desarrollo Sostenible (IISD), el Centro del Sur y el Kenya Investment Authority (KenInvest).

En el Foro, se abordaron dos importantes tendencias que están cambiando el modo de negociar las inversiones en la actualidad:

• el crecimiento de las negociaciones multilaterales y regionales,
• y la ampliación del alcance de los acuerdos para incluir un conjunto de cuestiones, como el comercio y otras dimensiones económicas, que antes se negociaban por separado.

¿Cómo repercuten estas tendencias en el papel que cumplen los países en desarrollo en la creación de los tratados de la próxima generación? ¿Cómo se relacionan estas cuestiones con la vinculación entre las inversiones y el desarrollo sostenible? ¿Cómo estas tendencias alterarán la estructura de los tratados bilaterales de inversión? ¿Cuál es el alcance más apropiado de los acuerdos? ¿Las negociaciones deberían ser bilaterales, regionales o multilaterales? ¿Sería más eficaz negociar los acuerdos por separado o negociar comercio e inversiones como capítulos en un mismo acuerdo? Estas preguntas se encuentran entre los desafíos que se tratarán en Nairobi.

• Ver la agenda del foro
• Ver el informe del foro

The 10th Annual Forum of Developing Country Investment Negotiators was held November 7–9, 2016 in Colombo, Sri Lanka.

The event was organized by the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) and the South Centre and co-hosted by the Board of Investment of Sri Lanka.

The meeting provided an opportunity to discuss the state of play of the current framework on international investment and ongoing discussions and negotiations at the bilateral, regional and multilateral levels. It also followed up on the outcomes of the previous Forum, held November 16–18, 2015 in Rio de Janeiro, "Investment Treaties in a State of Flux: Strategies and opportunities for developing countries," and further fleshed out strategic approaches available to developing and emerging economies to re-design the international system to contribute to their economic and social development in a sustainable way.

The Forum encourages the sharing of ideas and experiences among developing country officials with the aim of identifying potential solutions to the issues faced by countries and finding common ground and ways forward.

To learn more about the Forum and previous events, please visit: http://www.iisd.org/project/annual-forum-developing-country-investment-negotiators 

Le dixième Forum annuel des négociateurs d’investissement des pays en développement a eu lieu de 7 à 9 novembre 2016 à Colombo, Sri Lanka.

L’évènement a été organisé par l’Institut international du développement durable (IISD) et le Centre Sud et accueillie par le Conseil d’investissement du Sri Lanka.

La réunion a offert une opportunité pour discuter l’état des lieux du cadre de l’investissement étranger et des négociations et discussions au niveau bilatéral, régional et multilatéral. Elle a aussi fait le suivi des résultats de l’évènement de l’année antérieure à Rio de Janeiro, dont le thème a été « Traités d’Investissement en Constante Evolution : Stratégies et Opportunités pour les Pays en Développement », pour continuer à développer des approches stratégiques disponibles aux pays en développement et aux économies émergentes pour reconcevoir le système international d’une manière qui contribue à leur développement économique et social de façon durable.

Le Forum encourage le partage des idées et des expériences entre les fonctionnaires des pays en développement dans le but de créer des solutions aux difficultés auxquelles sont confrontés les pays aujourd’hui et identifier un terrain d’entente et des solutions communes.

Pour plus d’information sur les évènements précédents, prière de consulter: http://www.iisd.org/project/annual-forum-developing-country-investment-negotiators 

El Décimo Foro Anual de Negociadores de Inversión de Países en Desarrollo se ha llevado a cabo del 7 al 9 de noviembre de 2016 en Colombo, Sri Lanka. 

El evento ha sido organizado por el Instituto Internacional para el Desarrollo Sostenible (IISD) y el Centro del Sur y acogido por el Consejo de Inversión de Sri Lanka.

La reunión ha proveído una oportunidad para discutir el estado del marco actual de la inversion internacional y las discusiones y negociaciones en curso a nivel bilateral, regional y multilateral. Asimismo, el Foro ha dado seguimiento a los resultados del evento del año anterior en Río de Janeiro, que se enfocó en “Tratados de Inversión en un Estado de Flujo: Estrategias y oportunidades para países en desarrollo”, para continuar con el desarrollo de enfoques estratégicos disponibles para países en desarrollo y economías emergentes a fin de rediseñar el sistema internacional de una manera que contribuya a su desarrollo económico y social de manera sostenible.

El Foro fomenta el intercambio de ideas y experiencias entre funcionarios de gobiernos de países en desarrollo con el objetivo de identificar soluciones viables para las cuestiones que enfrentan los países. Además, busca encontrar temas en común y caminos a seguir.

Para saber más acerca de los eventos anteriores, por favor, visite: http://www.iisd.org/project/annual-forum-developing-country-investment-negotiators

Part 2 of our webinar series with TIAS will be entitled "Part 2: Integrated Models Supporting Implementation, Strategy Development and Transition Planning"

Tuesday, 12 April 2016, 3-5 PM GMT (4-6 PM CET, 9-11 AM EST)

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) have been approved by the UN General Assembly as key elements of the post-2015 development agenda. The goals represent a significant challenge for the science and policy community, given their broad scope, diversity, inherent uncertainties, the vested interests involved, and growing urgency for action.

As a crucial element of their implementation, there is significant interest in defining SDG indicators, given their potential role in monitoring and progress review. However, beyond having suitable statistical instruments for measuring progress, moving SDG into the mainstream will also require analytic tools and methods that can address SDGs as a system, analyze their relationships, and allow policymakers, experts and the public to identify and test hypotheses about implementation options in the context of scenarios.

The hypothesis underlying this webinar is that the conceptual approach, tools and methods of IA make it an interesting candidate to play a role.

The presenters in this 2nd and final webinar in the SDG series will address where the need for assessment in the different stages of SDG implementation may arise, how it can build on the work on indicators, and the related institutional and capacity issues. To illustrate these general issues, the speakers will discuss ongoing work on integrated modeling and key conceptual, technical and institutional capacity challenges that will need to be considered for making use of these IA tools and methods in practice.

An audio-visual recording of the webinar will be made available within one week of the event.

Organized and hosted by the Integrated Assessment Society (TIAS) & IISD

On Thursday, February 19, 2015, the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) hosted a special event in Toronto on water.

The event celebrated Canada’s unique Experimental Lakes Area (IISD-ELA), which is now managed by IISD. From acid rain to the effects of mercury and phosphates in our waters, this world-renowned ecosystem of 58 interconnected lakes in Northern Ontario is a living laboratory for water science. The ELA provides the backbone for practical watershed policies and freshwater science centres around the world.

Thank you to Thomas Lovejoy who gave a wonderful keynote speech and to everyone who supported the event!

Your contribution to clean water

Your support matters. With your support, IISD can keep our living laboratory—IISD-ELA—open. IISD is a registered charitable organization in Canada and tax receipts will be provided for donations. Through your commitment, the science, education and innovation will continue. With this science, IISD will be able to continue its work of informing watershed and freshwater policies right here in Canada and around the world. 

_{Photo credit: George Pimentel Photography}

The Forum was held October 1–2, 2007, in Singapore, co-hosted by the International Institute for Sustainable Development and the Centre on Asia and Globalisation, Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore.

It brought together over 30 negotiators from 25 developing countries for two days of intensive sessions. The agenda, formulated by a steering committee of negotiators, gave ample opportunity for participants to share their experiences and learn both from fellow negotiators as well as from experienced arbitrators, distinguished academics and other expert presenters.

There was overwhelming consensus at the close of the meeting on the value of the event, and the need for more such events, as well as strong offers of support for organizing any subsequent meetings. IISD is in the process of raising the funds for a second forum, as well as exploring other recommendations made by the participants for serving the community of developing country investment negotiators.

Learn more about the Annual Forums of Developing Country Investment Negotiators

On November 2–4, 2008, co-organizers IISD, the South Centre, and the Moroccan Department of Investment held the 2nd Annual Forum of Developing Country Investment Negotiators in Marrakech, Morocco.

The First Annual Forum of Developing Country Investment Negotiators was held in Singapore on October 1–2, 2007, and was attended by over 30 negotiators from 25 developing countries.

The Second Annual Forum updated participants on key issues in the International Investment Law regime today. These issues included: the changes in this field at the multilateral, regional and bilateral levels; the role of development policy space and home country and investor obligations; the link between investment agreements and climate change; and other relevant topics. The background papers and presentations are posted below.

Learn more about the Annual Forums of Developing Country Investment Negotiators

The Third Annual Forum of Developing Country Investment Negotiators was held in Quito, Ecuador, on 9-11 November 2009.

The event was hosted by the Universidad Andina Simon Bolivar and it was co-organized by the Government of Ecuador, the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) and the South Centre.

Governments from all developing country regions were represented at this meeting, including a significant number of least developed countries. The Third Annual Forum was attended by 60 participants from 33 countries. We were also very pleased to have achieved gender equality among the speakers and near-complete gender equality among participants.

The three-day event provided ample opportunity for participants to share their experiences and learn from fellow negotiators, as well as from experienced arbitrators, distinguished academics and other expert presenters. The Forum was lauded for its contribution to the knowledge of the developing country negotiators at both a technical level and a policy level. The discussions showed how the investment treaty regime has broad links to multiple issues that impact an array of government decision-makers and decisions.

Learn more about the Annual Forums of Developing Country Investment Negotiators