World Trade Organization (WTO) members involved in discussions on investment facilitation for development (IFD) closed “a very productive year.” They aim to complete negotiations by the end of 2022 and push for a final multilateral agreement, the WTO said.
Investment facilitation is about improving the transparency of investment policies worldwide, simplifying and speeding up investment approval procedures and promoting international cooperation. So far, the participating parties have reached a preliminary consensus on the framework and main rules of the agreement.
At the last meeting held on November 24, 2021, the coordinator of the negotiations, Ambassador Mathias Francke of Chile, praised the work done by participating members since the formal launch of negotiations in September 2020. “It has been a very productive year. Considerable progress has been made in the negotiations since last year, as reflected very clearly in the “Easter Text,” he said.
“We have an important and significant Joint Ministerial Declaration, recognizing that the fifth revision of the ‘Easter Text’ (Special and Differential Treatment for Developing and Least Developed Countries) will be the basis for negotiations next year, and setting an ambitious but achievable target date for the conclusion of negotiations on the text by the end of 2022,” Francke added.
It should be noted that once the agreement is reached, it will create a more transparent, stable and predictable environment for global investors and promote the development of global investment and trade.
This joint WTO initiative currently involves more than 110 members, compared to the 70 who endorsed the Joint Ministerial Declaration on Investment Facilitation for Development launched at the WTO's Eleventh Ministerial Conference (MC11) in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in December 2017, with other initiatives covering topics such as domestic regulation in services, e-commerce, micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) and gender. (Press release of the meeting held on November 24, 2021 ) (Press release of the meeting held on November 30, 20219 )
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