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Paris, France, 12 December 2005

ICSID, OECD and UNCTAD are three organisations which play significant and complementary roles at the international level in the field of investment agreements, whether monitoring and analysing investment agreements and disputes or acting as a secretariat of a dispute settlement forum.

This Symposium was organised jointly by ICSID, OECD and UNCTAD. Its purpose was for non-governmental actors to share their perspectives on emerging investment arbitration issues identified by governments and their international organisations; to explore and advance the agenda which developed and developing country parties to investment agreements have in common; and to consider ways for the three organisations and other interested institutions to best work together and respond to the needs of their members and the investment community.

The Symposium addressed the following issues:

• Recent developments in investment arbitration.
• Specific challenging issues of jurisdictional and substantive nature facing the parties in investor-state dispute settlement procedures.
• Possible ways for improving the system of investment arbitration.
• Co-operation among international organisations active in this field.

Documentation

• Agenda and background information [ Draft agenda and background information / français ] 
• Opening Remarks, Roberto Dañino, Secretary-General, ICSID
• Opening Remarks, James X. Zhan, Chief, International Arrangements, UNCTAD
• Opening Remarks, Richard Hecklinger, Deputy Secretary-General, OECD
• Is Enforcement of Arbitral Awards an Issue for Consideration and Improvement? —The Case of China, An Chen, Professor of International Law, Xiamen University, China
• Defining Investment and Investor: Who Is Entitled to Claim?, Barton Legum, Counsel, Debevoise & Plimpton LLP
• National Treatment: New Developments, Rudolf Dolzer, Professor of International Law, University of Bonn, Germany
• Is Consolidation of Claims a Step to Improvement? The HFCS case, Louis Alberto Gonzalez García, Director, Office of the Legal Counsel for International Trade Negotiations, Ministry of Economy, Mexico
• Transparency and Third Party Participation in Investor-State Dispute Settlement, 
  Meg Kinnear, General Counsel, Trade Law Bureau, Departments of Justice & International Trade Canada
• Indirect expropriation: is the right to regulate at risk?, Jan Paulsson, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Paris; President, London Court of International Arbitration
• How does the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) contribute to capacity building? The way forward, Anne Marie Whitesell, Secretary General, ICC International Court of Arbitration, Paris, France
• Technical assistance and capacity building, lessons learned from experiences and the way forward, Dr. A. Rohan Perera, P.C., Legal Advisor, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Sri Lanka
• A Decade of Increasing Awareness of Investment Arbitration and Intensive Activity: an Assessment, Professor Christoph Schreuer, University of Vienna, Austria
• How do relevant international organisations contribute to capacity building? The way forward, Ms. Anna Joubin-Bret, UNCTAD
• Improving the System of Investor-State Dispute Settlement: An Overview 
• Novel Features in OECD Countries' Recent Investment Agreements: An Overview

Further reading

• International Investment Law: A Changing Landscape, OECD, 2005 [ English / français ]

Symposium organisers

OECD - Mrs Katia Yannaca-Small, Advisor on International Investment Law
Tel: 00 33-1 45 24 7947; catherine.yannaca-small@oecd.org 

UNCTAD - Mrs Anna Joubin-Bret, Senior Legal Advisor and Technical Assistance Coordinator, Division on Investment, Technology and Enterprise Development
Tel: 00 41 22 907 5897; anna.joubin-bret@unctad.org