This was the fourth of a webinar series on investment facilitation for development, organized jointly by ITC and DIE.
 
Negotiations on an international framework on investment facilitation for development will start in the World Trade Organization (WTO) among 101 WTO members as soon as circumstances permit. How such an international framework can be integrated into the WTO system and how it relates to other agreements, including the Dispute Settlement Understanding, is open for discussion.
 
The webinar was conducted in an interactive manner and allowed for questions by participants. After an introduction and a briefing of the webinar participants on the state of play of the investment facilitation negotiations, the following key issues were discussed:
 

• How to integrate an international framework on investment facilitation for development into the WTO rulebook?
• What are potential overlaps with, and inconsistencies between, an international framework on investment facilitation for development and existing WTO agreements (e.g. GATS).
• What are the interrelations between the negotiations on investment facilitation for development and domestic regulation disciplines?

 
This webinar was held in the framework of a joint ITC/DIE project on Investment Facilitation for Development. It discussed a number of issues that need to be considered during the negotiations concerning how such a framework should be implemented to meet its objective.