On Sunday 25 February, trade ministers representing 123 member countries of the World Trade Organization (WTO) – including the European Union – published their agreement on Investment Facilitation for Development (IFD). The text of the agreement had been finalised in November 2023, but it was made public on the eve of the 13th WTO Ministerial Conference (MC13) in Abu Dhabi.
In order for it to come into force for the signatory countries, the agreement must be ratified by the rest of the WTO members. The signatories hope that this decision will be taken at MC13.
“I hope it can be implemented as soon as possible since it constitutes an opportunity for developing and least developed countries to boost their capacity to attract more investment, improve the business climate and help grow their economies”, said EU Trade Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis.
The IFD agreement provides for the simplification of administrative procedures relating to investments in participating countries, increased transparency of measures in force and the adoption of other facilitation measures. According to the signatories, this should primarily benefit developing and least developed countries.
Market access, investment protection and investor-state dispute settlement, which are more sensitive issues, are excluded from the agreement.
China is one of the signatories, along with Brazil, Russia and Japan, for example. On the other hand, the United States and India did not support this initiative. All WTO members can join the agreement at any time.
See the text of the agreement: https://aeur.eu/f/b10 (Original version in French by Léa Marchal)