The International Trade Centre (ITC), in collaboration with the German Development Institute/Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik (DIE), issued a toolkit to support the negotiations conducted by a group of World Trade Organization (WTO) members under the joint statement initiative (JSI) on Investment Facilitation for Development, as well as unilateral, bilateral, and regional efforts to facilitate sustainable investment flows.

The report titled, ‘Investment Facilitation for Development: A Toolkit for Policymakers,’ offers insights from the JSI discussions and regional agreements, model clauses, and practical tips to help governments build capacity to negotiate and implement investment agreements. 

The report notes that the JSI negotiations “aim to create a multilateral framework for a more transparent, efficient and investment-friendly business climate,” to help advance development and enhanced cooperation on investment. A successful outcome of these negotiations, the authors argue, “can help revitalize global investment by enhancing transparency, streamlining procedures, improving regulations, encouraging foreign direct investment (FDI) that directly contributes to development, and strengthening international cooperation.” However, questions persist among participating members and investment experts over the development dimension of the proposed agreement, along with concerns over its scope potentially being overly broad and the possibility of its provisions being “imported” into investment treaties in the context of investor-state disputes. This potential relationship and interaction between the multilateral framework and international investment agreements is also addressed in the toolkit.

The publication includes a Sustainable Investment Facilitation Inventory, which offers practical suggestions to facilitate implementation, ranging from digital one-stop-shops to specific uses of social media platforms and matchmaking databases. The inventory also features sample texts for drafting investment agreements.

To support progress, the report finds, a community of stakeholders, including from the private sector, can keep the negotiations on course, provide technical assistance, and contribute to good practices.

The publication is based on activities developed through a joint ITC/DIE project on investment facilitation for development, including some 30 stakeholder consultations. [Publication: Investment Facilitation for Development: A Toolkit for Policymakers] [Publication Landing Page] [ITC Press Release]