Iniciativa Conjunta sobre Facilitación de las Inversiones para el Desarrollo de la OMC: Avances desde 2022 y el camino hacia la CM13

This report by the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) and CUTS International analyzes the progress of the World Trade Organization (WTO) Joint Initiative on Investment Facilitation for Development (IFD) as of February 2023. It details the current state of the draft agreement, highlighting key pillars such as transparency, administrative streamlining, and special treatment for developing nations, while outlining the remaining challenges and the path toward the 13th Ministerial Conference (MC13).

• More than 110 WTO Members, representing over two-thirds of the organization, are negotiating a new agreement to improve the business and investment climate, specifically to benefit developing countries and Least Developed Countries (LDCs).
• The draft agreement is structured around several key pillars, including increasing transparency of investment measures, streamlining administrative procedures, and promoting international cooperation for sustainable development.
• The agreement establishes a 'separation' principle to ensure that obligations under this treaty are not used to interpret obligations in other international investment agreements (IIAs) or as a basis for investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) claims.
• Transparency obligations require Members to publish all government measures affecting foreign investment, including laws, regulations, and administrative decisions, and to provide a reasonable timeframe between publication and implementation.
• The agreement mandates that authorization procedures for investments be conducted in a reasonable, objective, and impartial manner, prohibiting the use of procedures to unjustifiably prevent applicants from meeting requirements.
• To support developing countries and LDCs, the agreement adopts a Special and Differential Treatment (S&DT) model based on the Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA), categorizing commitments into Category A (unconditional), Category B (transition period), and Category C (requiring technical assistance).
• The agreement includes provisions for sustainable investment, encouraging companies to voluntarily adopt internationally recognized principles of responsible business conduct and requiring states to implement anti-corruption measures.
• Members are debating the creation of an Investment Facilitation Mechanism to manage voluntary contributions from donor Members and support developing countries and LDCs in implementing the agreement.
• The coordinators of the negotiations, from Chile and the Republic of Korea, set a new deadline of July 2023 to finalize the text of the agreement.
• Three options for integrating the agreement into the WTO architecture are being explored: as a multilateral agreement in Annex 1, as a plurilateral agreement in Annex 4, or by incorporating commitments into existing GATT and GATS schedules.

APA

Jose, R. (2023). Iniciativa Conjunta sobre Facilitación de las Inversiones para el Desarrollo de la OMC: Avances desde 2022 y el camino hacia la CM13. International Institute for Sustainable Development. https://www.iisd.org/system/files/2023-03/joint-initiative-investment-facilitation-mc13-es.pdf

Chicago

Jose, Rashmi. Iniciativa Conjunta sobre Facilitación de las Inversiones para el Desarrollo de la OMC: Avances desde 2022 y el camino hacia la CM13. International Institute for Sustainable Development, 2023. https://www.iisd.org/system/files/2023-03/joint-initiative-investment-facilitation-mc13-es.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Jose |first1=Rashmi |title=Iniciativa Conjunta sobre Facilitación de las Inversiones para el Desarrollo de la OMC: Avances desde 2022 y el camino hacia la CM13 |publisher=International Institute for Sustainable Development |date=February 2023 |url=https://www.iisd.org/system/files/2023-03/joint-initiative-investment-facilitation-mc13-es.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{jose2023iniciativa, author = {Jose, Rashmi}, title = {{Iniciativa Conjunta sobre Facilitación de las Inversiones para el Desarrollo de la OMC: Avances desde 2022 y el camino hacia la CM13}}, institution = {International Institute for Sustainable Development}, year = {2023}, month = feb, url = {https://www.iisd.org/system/files/2023-03/joint-initiative-investment-facilitation-mc13-es.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }