Completed Projects

Project: Intensive Training Course on International Investment Agreements

Partners: Organization of American States (OAS), University of the West Indies, St. Augustine, United Nations Council on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), World Trade Organization (WTO), and the Caribbean Regional Negotiating Machinery (CRNM)

Overview

1. Objectives of the Course

This course provided comprehensive coverage of all the main investment issues on the trade agenda from both a multilateral and regional perspective, with a special emphasis on the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) for government officials of CARICOM countries with direct responsibility for investment and investment-related issues as well as private sector representatives from the region. It aimed at enhancing the preparedness of these government officials and private sector representatives, given that very few Caribbean countries have negotiated investment agreements. The course was also aimed at increasing their understanding of the key issues on the investment agenda, taking into account the linkages between the FTAA negotiations and the multilateral efforts in the context of the Doha Development Agenda.

2. Study Program Content

This was an intensive training program covering the main investment issues from both a multilateral and regional perspective, with a special focus on the FTAA negotiations and the Doha Development Agenda. These topics included: Investment trends in the Caribbean, the Doha Development Agenda, the FTAA Process, Chapter 11 of the NAFTA, definition of investment and investor, admission and right of establishment, national treatment and most-favored-nation treatment, fair and equitable treatment, transfers, expropriation, performance requirements and incentives, environment and labor, the ICSID Convention, investor-state dispute settlement, investor-state dispute settlement cases, domestic regulation, and linkages between investment and services.

3. Presentation Methodology

The number of class hours was divided into lectures, practical exercises, and panel discussions.  

4. Lecturers   

Speakers included representatives from the World Trade Organization, UNCTAD, GS/OAS, the World Bank, the OECD, former government officials, academics, scholars at think tanks, and expert lawyers at Washington-based law firms.

Anticipated Benefits and Impact of the Course

The project benefited the private sector and government officials from CARICOM countries participating in the Doha Development Agenda and the FTAA negotiations, and officials from regional institutions with direct responsibility for investment policy. Foreign investment brings higher wages, and is a major source of technology transfer and managerial skills in host countries.

The human resources dimension is a key component of capacity building as Caribbean countries face the task of optimizing their limited resources in order to participate fully in the FTAA negotiations and the Doha Development Agenda and benefit from investment liberalization that these processes will generate. This challenge is of particular significance as the negotiations under both the FTAA process and the Doha Development Agenda are scheduled to conclude on January 1, 2005.