Speaker 1: International investment law What is international investment law? It is a field of public international law that governs relationships between states and foreign investors. Whereas the WTO exists for international trade, the international investment law system doesn't have an overarching organization. Sources of international investment law Investment treaties According to the 2019 World Investment Report, there are 2,932 BITs and 385 TIPs. The first BIT was concluded between Germany and Pakistan in 1959 to provide protection of foreign investment. The golden years of the BITs was from the 1990s to the 2000s, when about 160 BITs were concluded every year. The proliferation of BITs gained momentum during this era as developing countries incorporated BITs into their national economic development schemes for the promotion of foreign direct investment. Although the primary purpose of the BIT program was to provide foreign investment protection to the capital-exporting developed countries, free trade agreements with investment chapters like the NAFTA were concluded to additionally achieve milestone objectives such as investment promotion and liberalization. ICSID Convention The Convention on the Settlement of Investment Dispute between States and Nationals of Other States entered into force in 1966 and is a multilateral treaty that is ratified by 154 contracting states. It provides a procedural framework for dispute settlement between host states and foreign investors. While the convention doesn't contain substantive standards of protection for investments, it really was a game-changer since aggrieved foreign investors no longer had to rely only on diplomatic protection. Customary International Law Although international investment law is a universe of treaties, Article 31 of the Vienna Convention of the Law of Treaties applies so that any relevant rules of international law applicable in the relations between the parties shall be interpreted along with the investment treaty. Customary international law provides an important interpretive tool in an investment arbitration, especially when issues arise out of expropriation, nationality of investors, and the denial of justice. General Principles of Law General principles of law refers to universal principles of fairness and justice recognized in civilized legal systems around the world. Examples are good faith, the impartiality of judges, and the right to be heard. International tribunals may use these principles when they need to fill and can't find authority in other sources of international law.