The co-coordinators, Ambassador Sofía Boza of Chile and Ambassador Jung Sung Park of the Republic of Korea, asked delegations to attend the last round of meetings in person in order to generate the political momentum needed to achieve a stabilized negotiating text with as few differences as possible reflected in the draft agreement.

As usual, consultations in different configurations will take place the first two days, followed by a plenary meeting in the afternoon of the third day.  In the meantime, participants in the joint initiative will remain in contact amongst themselves and with the co-coordinators to try and resolve as many remaining open issues as possible.

At the last round of meetings on 23-25 November, participants discussed the remaining open issues as contained in the Annex to the ninth revision of the “Easter text”. This latest revision reflects the fact that several text proposals have either been moved from the Annex to the “plain text” (the part of the negotiating document that contains provisions on which a significant degree of convergence exists) or withdrawn by their proponents.

This ninth revision includes ‘landing zones’ on key issues, notably on the definition of ‘authorization’, which is key to determine the scope of the procedures covered by the Agreement; on ‘Home State Measures’; on ‘Supplier Development Programmes’ aimed at fostering business linkages between foreign investors and local suppliers, including micro, small  and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs); and a provision on the relationship between the future IFD Agreement and existing WTO agreements.

The Discussion Group on “Possible Definitions” submitted text contributions on three important definitions: “investor of another member”, “juridical person” and “applicant”. Overall, these contributions were backed by participants, and the co-coordinators suggested including them too as “plain text” in the next revision of the Easter Text. The Discussion Group will meet on 6 December with a view to finding a landing zone on the term "investment", ahead of the last IFD meeting of the year.

The objective now is to solve all remaining open issues contained in the Annex of the negotiating text. Participants also discussed a possible future work programme on investment facilitation for development.

Background

Member-driven, transparent, inclusive and open to all WTO members, the joint initiative on investment facilitation for development includes more than 110 members (two-thirds of the WTO membership) as participants — up from the 70 members who endorsed the Joint Ministerial Statement on Investment Facilitation for Development launched at the 11th Ministerial Conference held in December 2017 in Buenos Aires.

A second Joint Statement on Investment Facilitation for Development was issued on 22 November 2019, with 98 members expressing  support for the 2017 Joint Ministerial Statement.