WTO negotiations on investment facilitation and domestic regulation in services

• Date: 15/01/2020, 14:00-16:00
• Location: Charlemagne Building, room Sicco Mansholt, 170 Rue de la Loi, Brussels

Meeting details

In today's integrated global economy, the expansion of investment flows, which are indispensable for development, depends on making investment frameworks more transparent, predictable and efficient. In recognition of the dynamic links between trade, investment and development, 70 WTO members, including both developed and developing countries, agreed at the 11th Ministerial Conference of the WTO in December 2017 (MC11) to pursue structured discussions on investment facilitation for development with the aim of developing a multilateral framework for facilitating foreign direct investment and contributing to sustainable development. This WTO framework would build on measures such as making investment conditions and opportunities more transparent and streamlining administrative procedures relevant to foreign direct investment. At the moment, 98 WTO Members are participating in the Geneva-based discussions.

The WTO negotiations on domestic regulation in services aim at developing rules to facilitate trade in services inter alia by improving transparency and streamlining authorisation procedures for service suppliers. When adopted, these rules will benefit domestic and foreign service suppliers and therefore facilitate the provision of services both domestically and cross-border. Improving transparency and ensuring that authorisation procedures are objective, fast and predictable is particularly beneficial for smaller players (e.g. SMEs), who often do not have the means to deal with complex licencing or authorisation procedures in foreign markets. There have been many years of WTO negotiations on this topic. Negotiations shifted to a plurilateral format at the end of 2017, building on a Joint Statement issued by a group of 59 WTO Members at MC11.

The purpose of this CSD meeting is to debrief civil society organisations on these two WTO Joint Statement initiatives and to discuss the EU objectives and challenges faced in these negotiations. The Commission looks forward to hearing civil society views and expectations in this regard.

Speakers

Lead participants
Head of Unit, Investment unit, Directorate-General for Trade
Services negotiator, Services unit, Directorate-General for Trade

Moderator
Civil Society Dialogue Coordination, Information, Communication and Civil Society Unit, DG Trade

Agenda

1. Introduction to investment facilitation
2. Open discussion with stakeholders.
3. Introduction to domestic regulation in services
4. Open discussion with stakeholders.

We would be grateful if participants could arrive 30 minutes in advance in order clear security and gain access to the meeting room on time. Please bring with you the confirmation of your e-pass and an ID card or passport.

Related documents

• WTO joint statement services domestic regulation, 13/12/2017
• WTO joint statement on services domestic regulations, 23/05/2019
• Joint Ministerial Statement on Investment Facilitation for Development, 05/11/2019
• Presentation domestic regulation in services, 15/01/2020
• Presentation investment facilitation for development, 15/01/2020
• Meeting report, 23/01/2020