What’s next for the investment facilitation agenda?

Investment-facilitation discussions have been dynamic recently in international forums such as the G20 and the WTO. Interestingly, this agenda is pursued by developed and developing countries alike. While multilateral rules would be preferable, a plurilateral agreement negotiated among a group of like-minded countries seems most promising – at least for now

China and the global governance of foreign direct investment: the emerging liberal bilateral investment treaty approach

"The economic and political rise of China has led to considerable controversy regarding potential repercussions for the current global governance architecture. At least two opposing scenarios are conceivable: China's adaptation to the rules and norms system shaped by developed countries or the pursuit of a distinctive policy approach, a possibility that involves the danger of clashing regulatory policies. A recent and increasingly dynamic trend giving substance to the phenomenon of China's rising importance is the growth of outward foreign direct investments (OFDI) by Chinese enterprises. Against this background, the present paper investigates the evolution and change of Chinese international investment policy-making, with a particular focus on bilateral investment treaties (BITs) as the most important legal instrument for the governance of global foreign direct investment (FDI) flows. China has been a committed signatory of BITs since the early 1980s (120 treaties up to 2007). It is thus the second most active contracting party to BITs worldwide, surpassed only by Germany. The traditional Chinese BIT approach, however, has only cautiously supported the legal protection of FDI. As a mere capital-importer, China concluded BITs that contained serious reservations and safeguards intended to preserve policy spaces for the regulation of incoming investments. Starting at the end of the 1990s the Chinese government initiated a decisive policy shift towards a liberal BIT approach characterized by high levels of substantive and procedural investment protection. Upon examining a representative sample of Sino-foreign BITs, this study concludes that the policy shift was a pro-active decision of the Chinese government intended to introduce liberal treaty provisions first and foremost with developing countries which are the main destination of Chinese OFDI. A further explanation for this development may be found in the great importance attached to the promotion of OFDI through the 'Going Global' strategy announced by the Chinese government at the end of the 1990s. In sum, this paper concludes that China has adopted a complementary rather than a competitive approach in the field of global FDI governance. China has fully agreed to standards of the current international liberal regime for FDI protection and has become an important global player in this context. This policy shift will yield consequences for China itself by levelling the playing field for international investors. Furthermore, developing countries that have concluded BITs with China will face a further reduction of their legal and regulatory autonomy, which is already limited by treaties with developed countries. China's BIT policy, therefore, contradicts the widespread rhetoric of a mutual beneficial South-South cooperation. Lastly, the emerging complementarity of investment policies between China and developed countries at the bilateral level gives rise to the possibility of enhanced cooperation between both at higher levels, for instance as part of the Heiligendamm Process between G8 countries and emerging countries." (author's abstract

The Futile Debate over a Multilateral Framework for Investment

One of the recurrent debates on international investment rule-making relates to the question whether it is possible to establish a multilateral framework for investment (MFI). Proponents argue that growing foreign direct investment (FDI) from emerging countries, especially China, contributes to a new consensus on global investment rules. The crucial question however, should not be whether it is possible to negotiate an MFI (function follows form) but whether an MFI would be the right institutional form to align investment rule-making with sustainable development (form follows function)

对多边投资框架的无谓争论

国际投资规则制定上的一个经常性辩论涉及的问题是否有可能建立一个多边投资框架（MFI）。支持者认为，外国直接投资（FDI）增长来自新兴国家，特别是中国，一个新的共识，促进全球投资规则。 然而，关键的问题，不应该是是否有可能进行谈判的MFI（功能如下表），​​但小额信贷机构是否将是正确的制度形式，调整投资规则与可持续发展（形式追随功能）

What opportunities do the New EU international investment agreements offer for developing countries?

The issue of how foreign direct investment (FDI) can contribute to sustainable development processes is becoming increasingly important for many developing countries. For a long time now the issue from a development policy point of view has no longer been around how to increase the quantity of investment inflows. The quality of FDI and the contribution they make to environment-friendly and inclusive growth processes is just as important. This is accompanied by a desire on the part of many developing countries to more strongly regulate their investment inflows in order to increase their positive effects on development. This shift in focus is not just a consequence of the disillusionment that many developing countries have experienced given the minor economic benefits stemming from the liberalization of their investment regimes in the 1980s and 1990s. It is also a result of the economic success of emerging countries which frequently do not implement these recommendations for liberalization one-on-one. Furthermore the coherence of investment agreements also has to play a greater role in light of new systemic risks such as global finance and climate risks and increased interlinking between different areas of policy. Against this backdrop, the role and substance of international investment agreements (IIA) have been subject to intense discussion in recent times. IIAs were traditionally negotiated as tools to protect from western companies’ FDI in politically unstable developing countries. This one-sided focus for IIAs is no longer appropriate today: the global investment regime is in a period of change which calls the traditional North-South logic behind IIAs into question. It is no longer just North American, European and Japanese companies that invest abroad but also their Chinese, Brazilian and Indian competitors. The need for better consideration of public and private interests in IIAs is also growing in industrialized countries as a result of the increase in reciprocal investment flows. Against this background the European Union (EU) has implemented a far-reaching institutional reform of its Common Commercial Policy as a result of the Lisbon Treaty: negotiating European IIAs now falls under the overall competency of the EU and no longer just the Member States. This merging of trade and investment policy making at EU level provides new starting points for future IIAs to be drafted in a more development-friendly manner. Development policy actors should pay greater attention to this policy area in order to increase the potential for FDI to promote sustainable development processes. The formal options for pressing for greater coherence between investment and development policy have increased as a result of Lisbon. In order to use this room to manoeuvre more effectively developing countries need additional support to increase their negotiating capacities

Pathomechanisms of mutant proteins in Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease

We review the putative functions and malfunctions of proteins encoded by genes mutated in Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease (CMT; inherited motor and sensory neuropathies) in normal and affected peripheral nerves. Some proteins implicated in demyelinating CMT, peripheral myelin protein 22, protein zero (P0), and connexin32 (Cx32/GJB1) are crucial components of myelin. Periaxin is involved in connecting myelin to the surrounding basal lamina. Early growth response 2 (EGR2) and Sox10 are transcriptional regulators of myelin genes. Mutations in the small integral membrane protein of lysosome/late endosome, the myotubularin-related protein 2 (MTMR2), and MTMR13/set-binding factor 2 are involved in vesicle and membrane transport and the regulation of protein degradation. Pathomechanisms related to alterations of these processes are a widespread phenomenon in demyelinating neuropathies because mutations of myelin components may also affect protein biosynthesis, transport, and/or degradation. Related disease mechanisms are also involved inaxonal neuropathies although there is considerably more functional heterogeneity. Some mutations, most notably in P0, GJB1, ganglioside-induced differentiation-associated protein 1 (GDAP1), neurofilament light chain (NF-L), and dynamin 2 (DNM2), can result in demyelinating or axonal neuropathies introducing additional complexity in the pathogenesis. Often, this relates to the intinate connection between Schwann cells and neurons/axons leading to axonal damage even if the mutation-caused defect is Schwann-cell-autonomous. This mechanisms is likely for P0 and Cx32 mutations and provides the basis for the unifying hypothesis that also demyelinating neuropathies develop into functional axonopathies. In GDAP1 and DNM2 mutants, both Schwann cells and axons/neurons might be directly affected. NF-L mutants have a primary neuronal defect but also cause demyelination. The major challenge ahead lies in determining the individual contributions by neurons and Schwann cells to the pathology over time and to delineate the detailed molecular functions of the proteins associated with CMT in health and diseas

投资便利化议程的未来发展

Investment-facilitation discussions have been dynamic recently in international forums such as the G20 and the WTO. Interestingly, this agenda is pursued by developed and developing countries alike. While multilateral rules would be preferable, a plurilateral agreement negotiated among a group of like-minded countries seems most promising – at least for now

通过双边投资协定与区域贸易协定吸引FDI时，协定内容重要吗？

作者实证分析了，双边投资条约和区域贸易协定对与两国FDI的影响是否取决于两个重要的法律创新：一个是投资者与东道国争端解决机制（ISDS），另一个是准入前的国民待遇规定（NT）。事实上，他们发现了强有力的证据证明准入前的国民待遇规定（NT）促进FDI 的增长。而ISDS机制对FDI的影响微乎其微。然而，令人意想不到的是，类似的投资规定对外国直接投资的影响取决于是否这些规定来自于RTAs或者BITs

Competition and cooperation between Europe and China in the wind power sector

This paper uses a value chain lens to examine the prospects for competition and cooperation between Europe and China in the global wind power sector. Drawing on insights from fieldwork conducted in 2010 combined with secondary industry data, we find that Chinese and European industries are developing distinct models of industrialtechnological organisation. The usual headlines emphasising Sino-European competition or conflict fail to capture the complexity of current reality. While competition among lead firms is increasing, there are also considerable prospects for increased collaboration between firms across the value chains. China, Europe and the world can benefit from such collaboration to drive down the costs of the technology, improve quality, enhance innovation capabilities and make wind power a more credible energy option for the world. Policy initiatives in and between China and Europe have a big role to play in securing mutually beneficial relationships for the future. Keywords: wind power; global value chain; competition; cooperation; Europe; China