“International Trade and Investment Law”, as the name suggests, deals with two specific regimes of international law. They have traditionally been kept separate due to their specific negotiating histories and the parallel conception, but nonetheless share common synergies.
Historically different aspects of the topic were dealt with separately in the work program of AALCO, under the separate agenda items such “the World Trade Organization (WTO) as A Framework Agreement and Code of Conduct for the World Trade” , “the treatment of aliens” ‘Regional Cooperation in the Context of the New International Economic Order” and the “the work of UNCITRAL and other international organizations in the field of international trade law.”
However, since the Fifty-Seventh Annual Session held in Tokyo, 2018 the topics have been deliberated collectively under the agenda item “International Trade and Investment Law” and focusing on topics on international trade law dealt with by the WTO and the Investor-State Dispute Settlement Mechanism Reform currently undertaken by the UNCTAD and the UNCITRAL. Over the years it was acknowledged that the deliberations should also cover the work of other international organizations whose work on the unification and harmonization of international law trade has an important bearing on the facilitation of commercial activity around the world. Accordingly, the work of UNIDROIT and the HCCH were also placed for consideration under the same agenda item and have been closely monitored and discussed by AALCO.
The AALCO Secretariat’s brief on the topic prepared annually, reports on the developments in the field of international trade and investment law over past one year and includes reports on the work of the World Trade Organization (WTO), and the annual reports on the work of the UNCITRAL, UNIDROIT and the HCCH. Further, the document also provides an overview of the World Investment Report (WIR) published annually by UNCTAD highlighting key data and trends on international investment agreements and disputes. In the past AALCO has also engaged with the UN International Law Commission concerning the topic of International Investment Law and its reform inviting different perspectives from across the region and beyond and witnessing statements by esteemed members of the Commission.