Description: This book comprehensively investigates the rationale and effects of the first multilateral agreement on investment facilitation for development, including the interests of key WTO members. It adopts a multidisciplinary, transregional and data-driven approach to explore the political, economic and legal aspects pertaining to the most recent WTO agreement. The book highlights how this agreement broadens the scope of the WTO to the contentious area of foreign investment and adopts the innovative facilitation approach. The book presents cutting-edge research on the (non-)adoption of investment facilitation worldwide, the economic impact of the agreement, its legal implications and the political economy explaining why the investment facilitation for development agreement came about. The book brings together leading experts from various disciplines and practices and aims at inspiring more substantive research in this new field of international economic rule-making. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.
Brief description: Axel Berger is Deputy Director (interim) at the German Institute of Development and Sustainability (IDOS) and Managing Director of the Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) Germany. He works on the design, effects and diffusion patterns of international trade and investment agreements. Other areas of current research include the development effects of an international investment facilitation framework in the WTO and the role of the G7 and G20 in global governance.
Review Quotes: 'This book presents the first comprehensive analysis of the main existing efforts on investment facilitation. It is a great contribution for scholars and for trade negotiators and policymakers, as investment facilitation has been proved to be key to attract not only more but better investment, which is necessary for the transition to a more sustainable economy.' Sofía Boza, Ambassador, Permanent Representative of the Republic of Chile to the World Trade Organization