Africa
With the growing concern over the traditional ISDS system, it is highly unlikely that the AfCFTA will include an ISDS mechanism giving investors access to go to international arbitration under conventional international tribunals.
African states need to take a unified and proactive approach to investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS), in order to make a system that is fairer to Africa and more consistent.
A historic deal to smash down tariff barriers within Africa is being braked by the coronavirus pandemic and a thicket of negotiating problems.
Even if the pandemic continues into 2021, the African Continental Free Trade Area will move ahead, a top official says.
Kenya’s negotiations with the United States while the African Union is in ongoing negotiations on a future agreement between African countries makes this a transitional moment in Africa’s trading relationship with the West.
Negotiators from the Commission and the African, Caribbean and Pacific community confirmed that talks on a trade and political cooperation deal to replace the twenty-year-old Cotonou Agreement were close to completion.
The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) could begin operating on January 1 next year, after the COVID-19 pandemic made its original launch date untenable.
Joining the Energy Charter Treaty could cost developing countries money that is urgently needed to fight Covid-19 and a loaming economic crisis. The Energy Charter Treaty has become increasingly controversial.
The creation of the AfCFTA could enhance the attractiveness of sub-Saharan Africa as an investment destination and manufacturing base.
There is an imminent threat of claims arising from emergency measures, so countries should review how investor-state disputes are handled.
The AfCFTA is an opportunity for countries and companies to help each other grow, but trade liberalization and Western control can harm the poor and local producers in these countries, and Africa will repeat the mistakes of the European Union.
The United States should work to achieve a single, comprehensive agreement with Kenya that removes barriers to trade and investment, instead of pursuing a phased approach, the US Chamber of Commerce said.
Joining the Energy Charter Treaty could cost developing countries money that is urgently needed to fight the COVID-19 pandemic and economic crisis.
Many countries, particularly in the global south, are in the process of joining the Energy Charter Treaty despite the sweeping powers it grants to foreign investors.
The destructive effects of these free trade agreements signed with the EU are already clearly visible in the majority of countries of the South.
Economist Tapiwa Mashakada has said the African Continental Free Trade Area is going to suffer a serious setback as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Target for first trade under continent-wide pact is July 1. Tariffs, rules of origin and protocols for services are yet to be agreed on.
The working groups are expected to develop strategic programmes that will help the government domestically address key constraints facing intra-African trade to allow the country to harness the full benefits of the AfCFTA.
We civil society organizations and trade unions from the African continent express our concerns about the proposal presented by the European Union to establish a multilateral investment court and support further reaching reforms of ISDS.
Despite debates about crisis in investment treaty arbitration, most emerging market economies are concluding BITs that provide for ISDS and emerging market multinational companies appear to welcome ISDS.
