DNA

VIENNA, JUN 16 – Today, Permanent Mission of Pakistan in Vienna, United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL), Ministry of Commerce and Board of Investment Islamabad jointly arranged a webinar on bilateral investment treaty regimes with particular reference to Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS). It was attended by senior officials from UNCITRAL, Ministries of Commerce and Law and Justice and Board of Investment of Pakistan as well as representatives from provincial investment departments of KP, Sindh and Baluchistan.

Ambassador Aftab Ahmad Khokher, in his welcome remarks, thanked Ms. Anna Joubin-Bret, Secretary of UNCITRAL, for organizing the webinar to share expertise of UNCITRAL with Pakistani experts dealing with bilateral investment treaties and the latest developments and legal reforms in the area. He solicited support of UNCITRAL for improving the bilateral investment treaties through capacity building of Pakistani experts to plug loopholes in the legal framework and avoid financial losses in future in case of investment disputes. He highlighted importance of foreign investment for development of Pakistan in view of shift in focus of the government from geo-politics to geo-economics.

Ms. Anna Joubin-Bret, Secretary of UNCITRAL, expressed her readiness to share best practices and support Pakistan for improving its model bilateral investment treaty. Ms. Marianela Bruno-Pollero, Legal Officer, highlighted various elements of the UNCITRAL Transparency Standards. Ms. Corinne Montineri, Secretary of Working Group III, briefed about current work of the Working Group for improvement of ISDS mechanism to address the concerns related to lack of consistency, coherence, predictability and correctness of arbitral decisions by ISDS tribunals. Mr. David Probst, Associate Expert, highlighted the ongoing work of Working Group III about appellate mechanism for ISDS while Ms. Judith Knieper, Legal Officer, talked about reform of alternate dispute resolution mechanism.

Mr. Rifat Parvez, Executive Director General of Board of Investment briefed about investment regime and incentives for investors for investment in various sectors of Pakistan. He said that Pakistan was revising its bilateral investment treaty template and highlighted its various features for safeguarding interests of both investors and the State.

Pakistan appreciates the important work of UNCITRAL for improving legal framework for facilitation of international trade. The Mission will continue its engagement with UNCITRAL for constructively contributing in the reform process and benefit from its expertise.