CIL – USALI Conference on Investment Law Reform:
The View from Asia

14 – 17 June 2021:  8am (EDT) / 8pm (SGT)

14 June 2021

Reforming the International Law of Foreign Investment – State of Play in International Organizations

The current period is one of unprecedented activity regarding the reform of the international investment law regime. This panel will survey ongoing efforts within various institutions to address procedural and substantive reforms of the international law of foreign investment.

Chair: Jose Alvarez (NYU)
a) Meg Kinnear (ICSID)
b) Hamed El-Kady (UNCTAD)
c) N. Jansen Calamita (CIL)
d) Chi Manjiao (University of International Business and Economics (UIBE))

15 June 2021

Government Perspectives on Reform – The View from Asian Capitals

Panelists will discuss how Asian governments view the accelerating moves to reform international investment law. Do proposed reforms reflect the concerns of Asian states? How are governments managing the simultaneous reform of existing treaties and negotiations of new ones? How are ASEAN countries in particular addressing reform? Is there — or could there be — an ASEAN or Asian voice on international investment law?

Chair: Romesh Weeramantry (CIL)
a) Natalie Morris-Sharma (Singapore Attorney General’s Chambers)
b) Quynh VU (Viet Nam Ministry of Planning and Industry)
c) Jaemin Lee (Seoul National University)
d) Azusa Kikuma (Japan Ministry of Foreign Affairs)

16 June 2021

Investment Treaty Reform in Asia: Rule Makers, Takers or Breakers?

The 21st century has seen Asia emerge as the key global hub for international economic agreements. From the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) and the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) to the recent China-EU Comprehensive Agreement on Investment and China’s wide-ranging Belt and Road Initiative, increasingly great swathes of the global economy are being governed by agreements based in Asia. This panel will discuss whether the new agreements tend to reinforce already existing paradigms established elsewhere, or represent a departure. Are Asian approaches to rulemaking emerging? Are some Asian states emerging as the makers of new international norms? Are some willing to break existing rules, whether made in Asia or elsewhere?

Chair: N. Jansen Calamita (CIL)
a) Prabash Ranjan (South Asia University)
b) Stefanie Schacherer (CIL)
c) Heng Wang (University of New South Wales)
d) Charlie Garnjana-Goonchorn (Thailand Ministry of Foreign Affairs)

17 June 2021

The Long View on Reform in Asia

This panel will look at the broader impacts that proposed changes in investment law could have on international law and on Asian regional integration. What reforms are not yet being addressed that should be? How does investment treaty reform link with other areas of reform, both domestic and international?

Chair: Hi-Taek Shin (Seoul National University & KCAB International)
a) Jonathan Bonnitcha (University of New South Wales)
b) Surya Deva (City University of Hong Kong)
c) Pasha Hsieh (Singapore Management University)

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