Investment Facilitation Negotiations End Productive year, Aim at
Conclusion by End 2022
·
100 Members Join, Series of Meetings
·
Eight Meets Planned in 2022
·
Smaller Countries Take Lead
WTO members taking part in the negotiations for an agreement
on investment facilitation for development (IFD) held on 24 November their last
meeting before the WTO’s 12th Ministerial Conference (MC12), wrapping up “a very
productive year” and setting the target of concluding text negotiations by the end
of 2022. A ministerial meeting on IFD will take place on 30 November to take stock
of the substantial progress achieved since the start of the negotiations in September
2020 and to provide guidance for the post-MC12 phase.
Ministers will be presented at MC12 with a Joint Ministerial
Statement on Investment Facilitation for Development and a revised version of the
so-called Easter
text, the consolidated document which
will serve as the basis for continuing the negotiations post-MC12. Three new members
— Albania, Georgia and Solomon Islands — announced their decision to co-sponsor
the Joint Ministerial Statement. Delegations participating in the negotiations expressed
the hope that more new members will co-sponsor the statement in the coming days.
Chaired by Rodrigo Yáñez, Vice-Minister
of Trade of Chile, the ministerial meeting will be open to all WTO members. Ministers
are expected to formally adopt the Joint Ministerial Statement, which would then
be circulated to the full WTO membership as an official ministerial document. A
press conference will take place after the meeting.
The coordinator of the negotiations, Ambassador Mathias Francke of Chile, commended the work done by participating members
since the formal launch of the negotiations in September 2020. “It has been a very
productive year. You have made considerable progress in the negotiations since last
year, as the ‘Easter Text’ very clearly reflects. This could be achieved thanks
to your constructive engagement and positive spirit in our discussions, and I would
like to thank you all for that,” he said.
“We have an important and meaningful Joint Ministerial Statement,
recognizing that the fifth revision of the ‘Easter Text’ will be the basis of the
negotiations next year, and setting an ambitious but achievable target date for
the conclusion of the text negotiations by the end of 2022. With these two documents
… you reached a tangible and promising result for MC12. I am happy and looking forward
to continuing our discussions in January,” Ambassador Francke
added.
Schedule of meetings for
first half of 2022
Members agreed on a proposed schedule of IFD meetings for
the first half of 2022, as reflected in document INF/IFD/W/41. It is proposed that eight two-day negotiating meetings be
held between January and July 2022, the first one being scheduled for 26-27 January
2022. All meetings will be regular negotiating meetings — with generally three weeks
between them to allow more time for domestic consultations as well as consultations
among members.
Background
Member-driven, transparent, inclusive and open to all WTO
members, this joint initiative currently has the participation of over 100 members,
up from the 70 that supported the Joint Ministerial Statement on Investment Facilitation for Development launched at the
11th Ministerial Conference held in December 2017 in Buenos Aires.
In a second Joint Statement on Investment
Facilitation for Development issued
on 22 November 2019, 98 members expressed support for the 2017 joint ministerial
statement. They committed to intensifying work to further develop the framework
for facilitating foreign direct investment and to work towards a concrete outcome
on investment facilitation for development at the 12th WTO Ministerial Conference
(MC12). Participating members also agreed to continue their outreach efforts towards
non-participating WTO members, especially developing and least-developed members,
to ensure that the future framework helps address their investment facilitation
priorities and needs.