International Investor Arrangements: Trends And Emerging Issues (Unctad Series on International Investment Policies for Development)

The past few years saw a proliferation of international investment agreements (IIAs) at the bilateral, regional and interregional levels. The new generation of IIAs presents new challenges for policymakers. As global economic integration becomes ever deeper, managing the impacts of integration on the domestic economy becomes more complex and the challenges greater. This paper provides an overview of this new generation of IIAs, including the recent trends , it will also identify some of the key issues that have emerged, as well as some of the issues that arise as countries seek to ensure policy coherence in the face of a complex network of overlapping IIA provisions. Finally, the paper will conclude with a consideration of some of the implications for developing countries pertaining to the new generation of IIAs.