Middle East

States from the Middle East have concluded about 600 investment deals. 44 ISDS cases have been brought against Middle Eastern countries, while investors from the region have initiated 44 cases as well.

In 2013, Al-Kharafi & Sons Co., investors from Kuwait, were awarded US$935 million under the Unified Agreement for the Investment of Arab Capital in the Arab States, in a dispute over a land-leasing contract for a tourism project in Libya, making it one of the largest known awards to date. They had only invested about US$5 million but the arbitration tribunal decided that Libya also had to compensate for profits that would have been made during the 90-year leasing contract and were now lost.

Photo: President of Azerbaijan / CC BY 4.0

(April 2020)

CIAR Global | 9-Oct-2020
El pasado 7 de octubre de 2020, un tribunal de arbitraje de la Corte Permanente de Arbitraje resolvió que Guatemala no incumplió el tratado invocado en el procedimiento que mantiene, desde 2018, con la israelí IC Power por una cuestión tributaria.
Africa Intelligence | 1-Oct-2020
Le groupe koweïtien Al Kharafi veut faire confirmer ses saisies des actifs français du fonds souverain libyen LIA. Mais la sentence arbitrale dont il se prévaut a été annulée par la justice égyptienne.
Le Télégramme | 6-Aug-2020
L’homme d’affaires franco-libanais vient de remporter un nouveau jugement contre Athènes, qui lui contestait la propriété d’Hellenic Shipyards.
Lexology | 16-Jun-2020
On 3 June 2020, the Cairo Court of Appeal set aside a US$ 1 billion investment treaty award arising out of a dispute between a Kuwaiti construction company and the State of Libya, in relation to a license for a tourist development project in Tripoli, Libya.
Open Democracy | 6-May-2020
An internal EU report claims that the UK government has pressured the Armenian government in a two-year standoff between protesters, an international mining company and the authorities.
Business Wire | 4-May-2020
The tribunal appointed by the ICSID has issued a procedural order that denies a request made by the Republic of Turkey to bifurcate the arbitration proceeding.
Global Legal Chronicle | 20-Apr-2020
The tribunal dismissed all claims against Turkmenistan brought by a Turkish investor, Lotus Holding Anonim Sirketi, under the Energy Charter Treaty and the Turkey-Turkmenistan bilateral investment treaty.
Business Recorder | 31-Jan-2020
Pakistan’s team exchanged its draft agreement with Turkish team’s draft and prepared a consensus document which will again be shared with the federal cabinet for approval before presenting it to the ICSID.
Business Recorder | 30-Jan-2020
Pakistan approved waiving off all port dues/charges amounting to Rs194,951,059 on 31-1-2020 or till the vessels leave the port accruing against Karkey.
Kluwer Arbitration Blog | 20-Jan-2020
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.