WEBINAR | Rethinking Investment Treaties: Lessons for policy-making

If we were building the investment treaty regime from scratch today, what policy problems should the regime seek to solve, and how should it contribute to solving them?

This is the question at the heart of this IISD's webinar on international investment treaties. Instead of scrutinizing existing flaws in existing treaties, the webinar aimed to guide policy-makers on how to reevaluate investment treaties to tackle the burning environmental, social, and climate change issues of the 21st century.

The webinar was based on a fresh report from IISD, Rethinking Investment Treaties, which sets out a detailed roadmap for how the international investment treaty system can be redesigned to accelerate—rather than obstruct—genuine sustainable development.

The report authors, Josef Ostřanský and Jonathan Bonnitcha, and leading experts from academia and international institutions discussed the report's key findings and further unpacked how investment treaties could be redesigned to improve international cooperation on investment governance, align financial flows with the Paris Agreement, ensure that host states benefit from investment projects, and ensure strong human rights and environmental standards in investment projects.

Speakers
Alessandra Mistura, policy analyst, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)

Chantal Ononaiwu, director of external trade, Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Secretariat

Dafina Atanasova, economic affairs officer, United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD)

J. Benton Heath, associate professor of Law, Temple University

Jonathan Bonnitcha, senior associate, IISD

Josef Ostřanský, policy advisor, IISD

Joshua Paine, senior lecturer, University of Bristol

Roslyn Ng'eno, Senior Investment Expert, African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Secretariat

Yuanita Ruchyat, senior officer for investment, Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Secretariat



Moderator:
Suzy H. Nikièma, Director of Investment, IISD.