"Financing of the UN Development System – Current Trends and New Directions"-

On May 30^th it took place the NGO Briefing where the Dag Hammarskjold Foundation and the Multi Partner Trust Fund Office presented their second annual Report:   « Financing of the UN Development System – Current Trends and New Directions. », looking at the implications of Agenda 2030 for the financing of the UNDS.  

"Rethinking Development Strategies after the Financial Crisis"

On May 24th IIMA attended a conference at the Un Library called «  Rethinking Development strategies after the financial crisis », an event organized in collaboration with the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development.

The event, has been an opportunity to launch two books published by Unctad, called ‘Making the case for Policy Space’ and ‘Country Studies and International Comparisons’, which represent a sort of recipe to rethink the development strategies after the economic and financial crisis.

Reform of the Investment Protection Regime - Views and experiences from Developing Countries

On May 18, 2016 the Book Launch “Investment Treaties” – Views and experiences from developing Countries on the Reform of the Investment Protection Regime - took place at the UN library in Palais des Nations

The panelists were Prof. Carlos Correa, Special Advisor on Trade and Intellectual Property, South Centre, H.E. Mr Xavier Carim, Ambassador of South Africa to the World Trade Organization, Elisabeth Tuerk, Chief, International Investment Agreement Section, UNCTAD, and Kinda Mohamadieh, Research Associate, South Centre. The event was introduced by  Martin Khor, Executive Director of South Centre.

The debate on the implications of international investment treaties and the investor-state dispute settlement system has been intensifying and widening in the past years.

The authors have stressed that the problem of the investment protection regime is multilayered and complex and is rooted in various deficiencies : I. an imbalance in the provisions of the investment treaties (definition of investment and investor, free transfer of capital, right to establishment, protection from direct and indirect expropriation) which focus on the investor’ rights and neglect investor responsibilities; II. The wording of Treaty provisions, which allow expansive interpretation by arbitrators; III.The lack of transparency and available public information