One of Latin America’s poorest countries faces a wave of claims from foreign investors seeking billions of dollars. Chief among them is an American company looking to build a semi-autonomous “startup city.”
From the perspective of investment-affected communities, foreign investments arise out of a partnership between the investor and the state. Impacted people are often not consulted or involved in project establishment or development.
In August 2023, Volga-Dnepr filed a motion of intent to initiate the dispute with Canada under a 1989 treaty that Ottawa penned with the then-Soviet Union, which included a investor-state dispute settlement system.
In 2021, Rio Tinto filed a notice of dispute related to the government announcement to cancel the Lithium project in the Jadar Valley under the UK-Serbia bilateral investment agreement.
The SAMIR affair, dating back to the refinery’s 2015 closure, has seen Morocco and Corral Holdings locked in a bitter dispute before the ICSID tribunal.
This paper summarizes the discussions within the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law Working Group III on the reform of investor-state dispute settlement regarding the two draft provisions on damages.