CARIBBEAN

REGIONAL NEGOTIATING MACHINERY

With the financial support of the

Canadian International Development Agency

Negotiating CARICOM Investment Agreements:

State of Play and the Way Forward

Grenada Rex Resort Hotel

St. George’s, Grenada
June 22-25, 2009
CARICOM’s Objectives:

To increase the understanding of the scope and structure of investment agreements, and

To arrive at a strategic approach to negotiating CARICOM investment agreements with external
partners, consistent with regional integration initiatives

Monday, June 22, 2009

Morning Session
7:45 am – 8:15 am Registration of Participants
8:30 am Opening Remarks

9:00 am Overview of Global and CARICOM Investment Trends

9:30 am Investment Agreements: an Introduction

10:30 am COFFEE BREAK

10:45 am Admission and Establishment

11:30 am Fair and Equitable Treatment/Minimum Standard of Treatment and Full

Protection and Security

12:15 pm LUNCH
Afternoon Session
2:00 pm Expropriation and Recent Decisions

2:45 pm National Treatment and the issue of “in like circumstances”

3:30 pm BREAK
3:45 pm Most-Favoured Nation (MFN) Treatment

4:30 pm Experiences in Negotiating BITs: Mexico, Trinidad and Tobago, and Jamaica
OAS-CRNM-CARICOM Workshop Entitled “Negotiating CARICOM
Investment Agreements: State of Play & the Way Forward”
St. George’s, Grenada – June 22-25, 2009 Page 2

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Morning Session
8:30 am The Rules Governing Arbitration under ICSID & UNCITRAL & Other Fora

11:15 am COFFEE BREAK

11:30 pm Summary of Caribbean Cases

1:15 pm LUNCH
Afternoon Session
Roundtable on ISDS: Exchange of Experiences
Issues for Discussion:
• Institutional Arrangements to Defend a Case: Setting up an In-House Team
• Internal or Inter-Agency Cooperation for Fact-Finding
• Selecting Counsel/an Arbitrator
• Settlement during the Arbitration Proceedings: Discontinuance of Proceedings
• Dealing with Procedural Issues: Language, Schedule of Proceedings, Hearings,
Venue, Experts, Submissions, Briefs
• Working with a Counsel
• Costs of Proceedings: Budgeting for Fees, Expenses, Charges of Arbitration
2:30-5:30 pm
Centers
• Seeking Costs: Quantification of In-House Costs
• The Place of Proceeding
• The Rules of Procedure
• The First Session
• The Written and Oral Procedures
• Evidence, fact-finding, Experts Reports
• Amicus Curiae Submissions/ Opening to the Public
OAS-CRNM-CARICOM Workshop Entitled “Negotiating CARICOM
Investment Agreements: State of Play & the Way Forward”
St. George’s, Grenada – June 22-25, 2009 Page 3

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Morning Session
The CARICOM Investment Regime
Overview of CARICOM Agreements on Investment
• Factual overview of scope and content (standard provisions &
innovations, dispute settlement)
8:30 am
• Potential Treaty shopping and consistency issues

10:00 am COFFEE BREAK

Prospects for the CARICOM-US TIFA and for a CARICOM-Canada Model
FIPA or an Investment Chapter in a Bilateral FTA
10:15 am
• CARICOM BITs with the United States and Canada

Colombia’s Experience in Negotiating Investment Agreements with European

11:30 am Countries, the United States and Canada (via video conference from Bogota)

Prospects for the Establishment a Regional Advisory Centre on Investor-State

12:30 pm Disputes (via video conference from Bogota)

1:00 pm LUNCH
Afternoon Session
CARICOM Investment Objectives – Designing the right framework
Overview of the draft CARICOM Investment Code (What it does, what it could do,
2:30 pm contentious issues)

3:45 pm COFFEE BREAK

CARICOM Investment Objectives – Designing the right framework
4:00 pm
Overview of the draft CARICOM Investment Code (cont’d)
OAS-CRNM-CARICOM Workshop Entitled “Negotiating CARICOM
Investment Agreements: State of Play & the Way Forward”
St. George’s, Grenada – June 22-25, 2009 Page 4

Thursday, June 25, 2009

Morning Session
Overview of Negotiating Agenda
8:30 am
Strategic Review of the Way Forward:

• Examination of the CARICOM Agreements and identification of overarching

objectives and potential inconsistencies in the existing framework
• Gap analysis of the legal and regulatory framework
9:30 am • Assessment of CARICOM’s administrative capacity for managing investment
agreements
• Relationship of intra-CARICOM regime to IIA with external partners/third
countries

CARICOM delegates

12:30 pm LUNCH

Afternoon Session
• Recommendations for a CARICOM ‘template’ for investment provisions in
bilateral trade negotiations

2:00 – 5:00 PM • Further research required to inform CARICOM positions in future negotiations
& training needs

CARICOM delegates

2009-06-15