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investment | BITs

Further steps given by Ecuador to terminate its bilateral investment treaty with the USA
26-Mar-2013 Lexology
On 6 March 2013, Ecuador’s President, Rafael Correa, requested that Ecuador’s legislature approve the denunciation of the bilateral investment treaty (BIT) between the USA and Ecuador.
Multinational firms look for tax shields in bilateral pacts
19-Mar-2013 Live Mint
The aggressive push by India’s tax department to increase revenue has prompted several multinational companies to informally seek the views of lawyers and consultants about invoking bilateral investment promotion and protection agreements to resist the government’s demands for more money.
Ecuador plans legal challenge on foreign investment, oil
10-Mar-2013 AFP
Ecuador’s president on Saturday said he planned to challenge several bilateral investment treaties after the South American country was ordered to pay billions of dollars in damages by overseas courts.
Australian-US alliance a factor in Chinese investment decisions
1-Mar-2013 ABC
The growing size and value of China’s investments in Australia makes the case for a bilateral investment treaty increasingly urgent, according to a leading China expert.
Investors running wild on land: the threats posed by international investment agreements
20-Feb-2013 Traidcraft
A recent briefing note by Traidcraft discusses the threats posed by current regulation of foreign investment in land highlighting that food security and other human rights concerns often come at the cost of excessive protection of foreign investors’ rights.
New law to deal with compensating foreign investors for expropriation
18-Feb-2013 Business Day
One of the most contentious issues dealt with in a draft new Foreign Investment Bill, which the South African Department of Trade and Industry will present to an interministerial committee in the next few months, will deal with how the South African government will compensate foreign investors in the event of expropriation, deputy director-general of international trade Xavier Carim said on Friday.
CETA Investor-State Dispute Settlement process “anti-democratic, unnecessary and unfair,” says NFU
16-Feb-2013 National Farmers Union
The National Farmers Union is among the labour, environmental, Indigenous, women’s, academic, health sector and fair trade organizations representing over 65 million people from both sides of the Atlantic that have signed a joint statement demanding that Canada and the EU stop negotiating an excessive and controversial investor rights chapter in the proposed Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA).
Intra-EU bilateral investment treaties: A test for European solidarity
14-Feb-2013 TNI
Corporations in Western Europe are suing Central and Eastern European countries at international arbitration tribunals through a vast web of intra-EU Bilateral Investment Treaties (BITs).
Why can corporate interests trump sovereign rights?
14-Feb-2013 TRNN
Real News Network interviews Chakravarthi Raghavan on how companies can sue countries under trade and investment agreements
Profiting from injustice: challenging the investment arbitration industry
11-Feb-2013 Open Democracy
Corporations have been granted the exclusive right to sue states (states cannot sue corporations) at secretive international tribunals for action deemed to unfairly affect investors’ profits
Investment protection: government to develop model text of BITs
8-Feb-2013 Business Recorder
Pakistan’s federal government will develop a model text of Bilateral Investment Treaties (BITs) with the assistance of the Ministry of Law and Justice Division to ensure protection to investment on reciprocity basis.
Reko Diq: the other side
5-Feb-2013
Earlier last month, a three-member bench of the Supreme Court headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry declared null and void the Reko Diq gold and copper mine agreement, the Chagai Hills Exploration Joint Venture Agreement (CHEJVA), with Tethyan Copper Company (TCC).
The Reko Diq Saga
5-Feb-2013
The Supreme Court recently declared void and illegal a mining deal for the Reko Diq copper project signed 20 years ago between the Balochistan government and international mining companies.
What have you done to protect small traders from FDI, court asks Centre
22-Jan-2013
“Have you got any Foreign Direct Investment or it is just a political gimmick? Has the FDI policy in multibrand retail sector announced by the Centre in October 2012 brought some fruits” the Supreme Court asked Attorney-General G.E. Vahanvati on Tuesday.
BIPA talks put on hold
22-Jan-2013 The Hindu
In a significant development, the Government of India has ordered a freeze of all Bilateral Investment Protection Agreements (BIPA) negotiations till a review of the model text of BIPA is carried out and completed. This follows a spate of show cause notices on the Government by foreign companies seeking to recover their investments under the agreement.
Investment crucial for KORUS FTA success: official
19-Jan-2013
South Korea’s vice finance minister on Saturday stressed the importance of boosting investment between Seoul and Washington to fully utilize their free trade agreement.
Let’s prove ‘detractors’ wrong
11-Jan-2013
News that German ambassador Hans Gnodtke has warned his country might pull out of the United Nations World Tourism Organisation General Assembly due to be held in Victoria Falls later this year if government does not guarantee protection of its nationals must be a worrying development for Zimbabwean Tourism minister Walter Mzembi who has worked hard to make the event a success.
Govt to sign more bilateral agreements
11-Jan-2013
Permanent Secretary in the ministry, Desire Sibanda on Thursday said following the success of investment road shows carried out last year, government was optimistic of concluding more BIPPAs with several investor countries.
Red Electrica seeks arbitration over Bolivia nationalisation
10-Jan-2013
Spanish power grid operator Red Electrica said on Tuesday it had begun to seek World Bank arbitration over Bolivia’s expropriation of its transmission business TDE.
Canada, Benin sign investment protection agreement
9-Jan-2013 Tax-News.com
The Canada-Benin Foreign Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement includes an article on corporate social responsibility, which Canada now aims to include in all its future FIPAs.