Investment Facilitation

IISD.org 3 Investment Facilitation: History and the latest developments in the structured discussions 3.0 Early History of Investment in the WTO Context: From Singapore to Nairobi The replacement of the GATT system—which had previously governed international trade between its contracting parties—with the WTO in January 1995 was followed by a decision in December 1996 to establish a set of new work [...] Among other points, the declaration also stressed the importance of the development dimension within this framework, as well as accounting for Members’ varying capabilities, and noted that the framework would need to “reflect in a balanced manner the interests of home and host countries, and take due account of the development policies and objectives of host governments as well as their right to r [...] The subsequent ministerial conference in 2013 saw ministers adopt the Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA) and select other deliverables from the agriculture and development negotiations as part of a Doha Round “early harvest.” At the Nairobi Ministerial Conference in December 2015, the issue of whether to continue with the Round, or whether to consider negotiating on “new issues” while advancing on [...] IISD.org 6 Investment Facilitation: History and the latest developments in the structured discussions 5.0 The Re-emergence of Investment in the WTO Context: Post-Nairobi to Buenos Aires As discussions on investment facilitation gained steam in other international bodies, so too did it at the WTO. [...] IISD.org 8 Investment Facilitation: History and the latest developments in the structured discussions 6.0 Structured Discussions on Investment Facilitation Since 2018 Following the Buenos Aires ministerial conference, the signatories to the joint statement began holding “structured discussions” on investment facilitation, with the first phase of work devoted to putting together a checklist of issu