A Cotonou Investment Agreement

This report by Konrad von Moltke for the Commonwealth Secretariat argues for the creation of a Cotonou Investment Agreement to amplify the investment provisions of the Cotonou Partnership Agreement (CPA). The author contends that existing bilateral investment treaties (BITs) are too narrow, focusing primarily on investor protection without empirical evidence of benefiting developing countries. The proposed agreement would balance investor rights with host state development goals, incorporate principles of good governance, and establish a Cotonou Investment Fund and an Observatory for ACP Investment to monitor progress toward sustainable development and poverty eradication in ACP countries.

• The author argues that existing international investment agreements, particularly bilateral investment treaties (BITs), are insufficient for developing countries because they focus too narrowly on investor protection and lack empirical evidence of generating benefits for those countries.
• A Cotonou Investment Agreement should explicitly aim to increase long-term foreign investment in ACP countries to support sustainable development goals consistent with the Cotonou Partnership Agreement (CPA).
• The proposed agreement must be based on four essential principles of investment policy: legitimacy, transparency, accountability, and a balance between investor rights, development objectives, and the protection of public goods.
• To ensure effectiveness, the agreement should establish an Observatory for ACP Investment that reports to the Joint Parliamentary Committee and the Council of Ministers to monitor results against set objectives.
• The report proposes that in countries with proven governance, investors must exhaust domestic remedies before seeking international arbitration, and international dispute settlement should defer to public policy goals established under the agreement's principles.
• The author suggests that the Cotonou Investment Agreement should replace existing BITs between EU Member states and ACP countries or ensure they are consistent with the new agreement's objectives to avoid a complex patchwork of treaties.
• A Cotonou Investment Fund is recommended to provide direct and indirect funding for projects, prioritizing small and medium enterprises (SMEs) that contribute to ACP development goals.
• The report emphasizes the role of regional institutions to reduce the financial and human resource burden on smaller ACP countries, suggesting regional bodies for environmental reviews, competition authorities, and judicial review.
• The author criticizes current investor/state dispute settlement institutions, such as ICSID and UNCITRAL, as unsuitable for the Cotonou framework because they cannot adequately balance private rights and public goods in a transparent and accountable manner.

APA

von Moltke, K. (2003). A Cotonou Investment Agreement. International Institute for Sustainable Development. https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/investment_cotonou.pdf

Chicago

von Moltke, Konrad. A Cotonou Investment Agreement. International Institute for Sustainable Development, 2003. https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/investment_cotonou.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=von Moltke |first1=Konrad |title=A Cotonou Investment Agreement |publisher=International Institute for Sustainable Development |date=April 2003 |url=https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/investment_cotonou.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{vonmoltke2003cotonou, author = {von Moltke, Konrad}, title = {{A Cotonou Investment Agreement}}, institution = {International Institute for Sustainable Development}, year = {2003}, month = apr, url = {https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/investment_cotonou.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }