WTO DG Applauds Circulation of Draft Deal on Investment Facilitation for Development
World Trade Organization Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala touted the recent circulation of a draft negotiating text on investment facilitation for development (IFD) as evidence of an impending agreement, the WTO said. Okonjo-Iweala said the circulation of the text is a "major breakthrough towards concluding an Agreement that will attract and retain more and higher quality investment, taking into account the respective development priorities of members."
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The DG spoke at a Dec. 16 stock-taking session over the agreement, urging participating members to push forward on a pro-development implementing mechanism via an IFD needs assessment. China's Ambassador Chenggang Li said that boosting "transparent, predictable and efficient investment" is key for least-developed countries' efforts to attract development. Li is further hopeful for a final agreement to be one of the outcomes of the 13th Ministerial Conference, noting that over 70% of the text proposals come from developing nations, which shows that foreign direct investment is a "key priority and shared interest of WTO members," the WTO said.
Talks over the agreement formally began in September 2020 and build on around 60 text proposals submitted by members, of which 43 are from developing and least-developed countries. The draft agreement has text for the following seven sections of a future agreement: scope and general principles; transparency of investment measures; streamlining and speeding up administrative procedures; focal points, domestic regulatory coherence and cross-border cooperation; special and differential treatment for developing and least-developed nations; sustainable investment; and institutional arrangements and final provisions.
"The Agreement explicitly excludes market access, investment protection and investor-State dispute settlement, and contains a multi-pronged 'firewall provision' to insulate the future Agreement from members' existing and future international investment agreements," the WTO said. "The text also builds on existing WTO agreements."