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investment | BITs

The BIT network
10-Sep-2004
The proliferation of Bilateral Investment Protection Treaties creates a network with anti-democratic and anti-social effects akin to MAI.
BITS in Argentina: instruments to legalize subordinating the country to the interests of corporate groups
9-Sep-2004 FOCO
Report authored by the FOCO team
UK supermarket chain abandons 12M pounds sterling claim against Guyana
25-Aug-2004
The Big Food Group which owns the Iceland chain of food stores, has abandoned its more than 12M pounds sterling claim against Guyana for the nationalisation of the sugar industry 27 years ago.
The Bilateral Investment Treaty: Investment facilitator or host country albatross?
25-Aug-2004
Supermar-ket chain had abandoned its 12M pounds sterling claim against Guyana. The article stated that the Big Food Group which owns the Iceland Chain of food stores, had abandoned its more that 12M pound sterling chain against Guyana for the nationalisation in 1976 of the sugar industry then owned by Bookers.
BITs: "arms of massive destruction" against national and international public law and human rights law
6-Aug-2004 UN
Written statement submitted by Europe Centre - Third World, non-governmental organization with general consultative status and the American Association of Jurists, nongovernmental organization with special consultative status.
Bilateral investment agreements: Agents of new global standards for the protection of IPRs?
5-Aug-2004 Bilateral investment agreements: Agents of new global standards for the protection of intellectual property rights?
Developing countries have entered into a large number of bilateral investment treaties (BITs) as well as free trade agreements (FTAs) that include explicit obligations for the protection of intellectual property rights as "investments".
Seoul film industry rallies to keep quota
2-Aug-2004 Seoul film industry rallies to keep quota
A star-studded film about two brothers caught on opposite sides of the Korean War broke all box-office records here this year.
Bilateral Treaties Undermine Rights
25-Jul-2004 Bilateral Treaties Undermine Rights
Bilateral trade treaties have hit stormy waters in recent weeks, drawing criticism from French President Jacques Chirac, a leading world economist and human rights groups alike.
The disease of the day: Acute treatyitis
20-Jul-2004 The disease of the day: Acute treatyitis
The efforts to establish global and regional ‘free trade’ agreements have met with considerable resistance. People around the world suffering the effects of so-called free trade have steadily built a movement to reject the dominant economic model.
War: Trade by other means: How the US is getting a free trade agreement minus the negotiations
5-Jul-2004
On June 28, two days before the announced date of handover of power, the United States transferred political authority in Iraq, in a meeting so secret o­nly six people participated.
The Economic Colonization of Iraq: Illegal and Immoral
28-Jun-2004 The Economic Colonization of Iraq: Illegal and Immoral
The Bush Administration is using the military invasion and occupation of Iraq to advance a corporate globalization agenda that is illegal under international law, has not been chosen by the Iraqi people and may ultimately prove to be even more devastating than twelve years of economic sanctions, two U.S.-led wars and one occupation. The Administration’s ultimate goal is to take the agenda to the entire region.
Investment and Sustainable Development: A Guide to the Use and Potential of IIAs
21-Jun-2004
The International Institute for Sustainable Development has just released a new book: Investment and Sustainable Development: A Guide to the Use and Potential of International Investment Agreements.
Regionalism and the multilateral trade system
20-Apr-2004
Regional trade agreements (RTAs) are an integral part of international trade, accounting for almost half of world trade and expected to grow further in the next few years. These agreements operate alongside global multilateral agreements under the World Trade Organization (WTO), and have both positive and negative effects.
Analysis: We Must Mobilise Against A Miasma of Mini-MAIs
26-Mar-2004 ZNet
You’ve got to wonder at the nerve of New Zealand trade officials. During the furtive Multilateral Agreement on Investment negotiations and the subsequent international waves of opposition they were quietly hatching binding bilateral investment deals containing provisions resembling some of the most controversial elements of the MAI.
Analysis: Sleeping Beauty And Prince Charming: Bilateral Deals Are No Fairytale
24-Mar-2004
The recent explosion of bilateral investment and trade agreements and investor-state disputes is of growing concern. Many mobilisations against the World Trade Organisation (WTO) aim to stop attempts by industrialised countries to kickstart talks on a multilateral investment agreement at September’s Cancun Ministerial meeting.
EU-Mexico Economic Partnership, Political Coordination and Cooperation Agreement (2000)
20-Mar-2004
TRIPS-plus through the backdoor
5-Mar-2004
Bilateral agreements are a powerful but hidden tool to achieve uniform market conditions for transnational corporations in developing countries. Silently hammered out between individual governments, they offer a direct means to cut deals over market access privileges, foreign investment, research funding or anchor-free profits.