(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana)     Investment officials from CARICOM Member States will come together for the CARICOM Forum on International Investment Agreements from 30 September to 2 October 2019 in Barbados. They will examine reform of international investment agreements (IIAs) including investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS).

Recognising the importance the Caribbean Community attaches to foreign investment that promotes sustainable development, the Forum seeks to better position CARICOM countries to engage on re-design of the international investment regime in a way that contributes to their sustainable development.

The meeting will provide training and a platform for strategic discussion. Sessions will address the legal framework governing foreign investment, key protections in IIAs and how they are interpreted and the current design of investor-state arbitration and the experiences of CARICOM countries with this form of ISDS. The Forum will also feature a policy briefing on recent IIA reform initiatives, as presented in the 2019 World Investment Report of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). Participants will also conduct a strategy session on reform of IIAs and ISDS.

The event is jointly organized by the CARICOM Secretariat, the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD), UNCTAD and the Commonwealth Secretariat.