Towards A Southern Agenda on International Investment

The document examines the history and current state of bilateral, regional, and multilateral investment agreements, concluding that the traditional model focuses too heavily on investor protection at the expense of host-state regulatory autonomy and sustainable development goals.

• The traditional model of international investment agreements (IIAs) has shifted focus away from the rights of host states toward the protection of investor rights, a trend influenced by the process of decolonization and the need to protect assets from nationalization.
• There is no clear empirical evidence to support the common assumption that bilateral investment treaties (BITs) successfully stimulate new or additional flows of foreign direct investment (FDI).
• The investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) process is criticized for lacking legitimacy, transparency, and accountability, often relying on commercial arbitration rules that allow for structural conflicts of interest among arbitrators.
• Poorly drafted IIAs can lead to 'regulatory chill,' where governments hesitate to implement necessary public interest regulations due to the uncertainty of potential disputes with foreign investors.
• Pre-establishment commitments, increasingly sought by countries like the United States, Canada, and Japan, may limit the ability of developing countries to align future investments with their own development priorities.
• Performance requirements—such as mandates for technology transfer or local hiring—are often prohibited in IIAs, despite evidence from UNCTAD suggesting they can play a positive developmental role.
• The European Union's approach to investment differs from the U.S. model by integrating investment within a broader framework of legislation on environment and sustainable development, though EU member states continue to use a complex web of BITs.
• Multilateral negotiations on investment have repeatedly failed, as seen with the Multilateral Agreement on Investment (MAI) and WTO efforts, partly because they reveal flaws in the bilateral approach when subjected to greater public scrutiny.

APA

von Moltke, K., & Mann, H. (2004). Towards A Southern Agenda on International Investment. International Institute for Sustainable Development. https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/investment_sai.pdf

Chicago

von Moltke, Konrad, and Howard Mann. Towards A Southern Agenda on International Investment. International Institute for Sustainable Development, 2004. https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/investment_sai.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=von Moltke |first1=Konrad |last2=Mann |first2=Howard |title=Towards A Southern Agenda on International Investment |publisher=International Institute for Sustainable Development |date=May 2004 |url=https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/investment_sai.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{vonmoltke2004towards, author = {von Moltke, Konrad and Mann, Howard}, title = {{Towards A Southern Agenda on International Investment}}, institution = {International Institute for Sustainable Development}, year = {2004}, month = may, url = {https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/investment_sai.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }