Vale Columbia Center on Sustainable International Investment

November 5-6, 2009: FDI, the Global Crisis and Sustainable Recovery (Fourth Columbia International Investment Conference)

The global economic crisis has already had a tremendous effect in reducing FDI flows, and these flows are likely to continue to decline in 2009. At the same time, the deepening recession has made the need for such investment, and especially investments that will contribute to a sustainable recovery, ever more important. The financial crisis and recession therefore requires us to take stock of the changing trends in FDI and to discuss policy implications of encouraging FDI so that it may contribute to a robust and sustainable recovery.

The Fourth Columbia International Investment Conference addressed how the crisis is affecting FDI (including the impact on flows, new players, changing patters of agricultural sector FDI), the changing business environment for FDI (including the effect of the crisis on social conditions, CSR and resource nationalism), and public policy opportunities for a sustainable recovery (including public-private partnerships, a global bankruptcy law and a sustainable investment regime). The Conference was sponsored by the University of St. Gallen, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Finland, with support from Vale.

Speakers at the Conference included Lee C. Bollinger, Meg Kinnear, Karin Lissakers, Robert Orr, Jeffrey D. Sachs, Manfred Schekulin, and Joseph E. Stiglitz. The Conference was dedicated to the memory of John H.dunning.

The program is available here. The list of participants will be posted shortly.

November 4, 2009: The Role of ODA in Promoting Sustianable Investment in Development Countries

The Vale Columbia Center on Sustainable International Investment and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Finland organized a workshop on November 4, 2009 at Columbia University to promote discussion about using funds legislated by donor governments for official development assistance (ODA) in ways that lead to more sustainable foreign direct investment (FDI) in aid-receiving countries, particularly through support of policies and activities at the sub-national level.

The workshop brought together 16 experts from developed and developing country governments, international organizations, academia, the private sector, and civil society, all of whom participated in their personal capacity in a half-day of intense discussion of two related themes, namely: (1) How ODA might be leveraged at national and sub-national levels so as to either directly or indirectly encourage FDI that meets essential sustainability criteria, and (2) How ODA might (and whether it should) help foster linkages between the foreign firms operating in an economy and domestic firms, thereby enhancing local employment and stimulating domestic entrepreneurship.

August 18-19, 2009: The Future of Transnationalization for Emerging Market Companies (Five Diamond International Conference)

This was the second conference in the Five Diamond Conference Cycle, jointly organized by Fundação Dom Cabral (Brazil), Fudan University (China), the Indian School of Business (India), the Moscow School of Management SKOLKOVO (Russia), and the Vale Columbia Center on Sustainable International Investment at Columbia University (United States). The Five Diamond conferences address issues raised by the remarkable rise of outward-investing multinational firms from emerging markets: for the firms themselves, for their host countries and for their home countries.

This particular event in Brazil focused on the future of transnationalization as seen specifically from the corporate perspective. The three core round tables addressed issues such as transnationalization and value creation, communication barriers and ethical dilemmas in working in other countries, and the role of knowledge and technology in successful transnationalization. There were also panel discussions that put the current global crisis in a historical perspective and drew lessons and directions for emerging market multinationals. (In photo, from left to right: Ajit Rangnekar, Karl P. Sauvant, Paulo Resende, Emerson de Almeida, Xiongwen Lu.)

For more information about this conference including the Conference program, please visit: www.fivediamondconference.org

June 17, 2009: Workshop on International Investment Law & the Fight against Corruption

Issues of bribery and corruption are arising more and more frequently in investor-state arbitrations. A preliminary look at the cases involving allegations of corruption suggests that arbitrators face uncertainty as to the most appropriate manner to respond to allegations or other indicia of corruption in accordance with the requirements of international law. Such uncertainty could result in inconsistent decisions and even discourage adoption of anticorruption policies by states or corporations.

The Open Society Justice Initiative (Justice Initiative) and the Vale Columbia Center on Sustainable International Investment (VCC) are exploring the possibilities for addressing a possible hole in the fabric of international anticorruption law as applied within the treaty regime for the protection of foreign investments. On June 17, 2009, the Justice Initiative and the VCC organized a workshop with recognized experts to discuss the challenges that arbitrators face when corruption is suspected or alleged in investment cases, as well as what guidance might be most useful for arbitrators and other users of the investment arbitration mechanism.

Based on the results of the workshop, the Justice Initiative and the VCC are working on a conceptual paper to foster further research and debate on this subject among practitioners and academics.

May 13, 2009: Preventing and Managing Conflict in Energy and Other Natural Resource Investment Relations

At a time when investment relations in the field of energy and other natural resources are marked by tensions, this Symposium was an opportunity to foster a dialogue among policy makers, practitioners and academics on the present state of investment relations in energy and other natural resources, and especially on the ways to prevent or at least to manage and resolve conflicts successfully between investors and host countries.

Distinguished panelists and keynote speakers discussed the interplay of “national interest” (and related concepts) and the uncertainty that the evolving definition of such concepts means for international investment relations, especially in the field of energy and other natural resources. The program also considered the spectrum of national perspectives on natural resources and energy development relating to major resource holding countries, and how these various national perspectives can inform the policy, regulatory and contractual dialogues.

Co-organized by the Center on Global Legal Problems and the Vale Columbia Center on Sustainable International Investment

Partner and Head of Public International Law, Crowell & Moring LLP; Lecturer-in-Law, Columbia Law School

Hamilton Fish Professor of International Law and Diplomacy; Director, Center for Global Legal Problems

“Do the Argentine Crisis Decisions Present a Crisis for the Investment Regime?”

"The Financial Crisis and Recession: Implications for International Investment and Trade"

"Standards of Treatment in International Investment Law - Convergence or Confusion?"

Herbert F. Johnson Professor of International Management, Harvard Business School

“Sour Grapes or Sensible Sauce? Host Government Reactions to Investment Dispute Settlement Mechanisms”

SUSAN FRANCK
Associate Professor of Law, Washington and Lee University School of Law

On January 21, 2009, the Vale Columbia Center on Sustainable International Investment and The Earth Institute at Columbia University welcomed 30 students from the Business School of Erasmus University, Rotterdam School of Management, for a one-day conference on Business and Sustainable Development. The event was part of the students' "Sustainability Trip" to New York City, which included a visit to the United Nations and to other venues and organizations that are related to green architecture and renewable energy technology solutions among businesses, non-profit organizations and International governmental organizations.

At Columbia, the students, who are specializing in the fields of sustainable development and social responsibility in the global business environment, heard from leading practitioners from the Law School, Business School, and the Earth Institute. Please see the program and bios of the speakers here.

The Millennium Cities Investment Day, which took place in London on December 9-10, 2008, was a call to action for business executives and members of various diaspora communities throughout the United Kingdom.

Mayors, ministers, governors, and representatives from six Millennium Cities -- Akure, Nigeria; Blantyre, Malawi; Kaduna, Nigeria; Kisumu, Kenya; Kumasi, Ghana and Mekelle, Ethiopia -- convened to declare their cities “open for business” to dozens of potential investors. The event was organized by the Millennium Cities Initiative (MCI), led by Professor Jeffrey D. Sachs, Director of The Earth Institute at Columbia University, jointly with KPMG International, DLA Piper and the Vale Columbia Center on Sustainable International Investment (VCC). The final program can be accessed here.

On the evening of December 9th, KPMG hosted a special reception for over 130 investors and delegates from the six Millennium Cities. London Investment Day on December 10th was attended by over 70 business representatives from the UK and delegates from the six Millennium Cities. The event was opened by Nigel Knowles, Joint CEO, DLA Piper and featured speeches by Lord Michael Hastings, Global Head of Citizenship and Diversity at KPMG International and Professor Jeffrey D. Sachs, Director of the Earth Institue. Kandeh K. Yumkella, the Director-General of UNIDO, was the keynote speaker at lunch on December 10th.

The special event benefited from the participation of the Governor of the State of Ondo, (Nigeria), Olesugun Agagu; the Governor of the State of Kaduna (Nigeria), Mohamed Namadi Sambo; the President of the State of Tigray (Ethiopia), Tsegay Berhe; the Mayor of Kisumu (Kenya), Samuel Okello; the Mayor of Mekelle (Ethiopia), Feseha Zerihun; as well as the Kenyan Minister of Planning, Wylciff Ambetsa Oparanya and the Malawian High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, Francis Moto.

The events showcased commercially viable investment opportunities in the participating cities identified by the MCI, KPMG and the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), and the delegations from the Millennium Cities had a chance to meet interested potential investors in separate meeting rooms after the main event. Presentations made by the various delegations can be found here:

• “Investment Opportunities in Blantyre;” by Suzana Mjuweni, Manager at Malawi Investment Promotion Agency;
• “Attracting Investment into the Millennium City of Kaduna, Nigeria, part 1, part 2, part 3;” by Baba Jibrin Adamu, Special Advisor on ICT to the Governor of Kaduna State;
• “Investment in Kisumu – Opportunities and Challenges,” by Wycliff Ambetsa Oparanya, Minister of Planning for Kenya;
• “Kisumu: The Investment Location,” by Samuel Okello, Mayor of Kisumu;
• “Kisumu – Mayfair Holdings,” by Munira Gilani, Director of Mayfair Holdings;
• “Investing in Kumasi,” Abenaa Akuamoa-Boateng, MCI Project Manager in Kumasi;
• “Investing in Akure, Ondo State,” by Olusegun Agagu, Governor of Ondo State;
• “Millennium Promise – Millennium City: A Pathway to Sustainable Development,” by Rustom Masalawala, Director of Business Development at Millennium Promise.

For more information on the event or MCI's investment-related activities more generally, please visit the MCI website here or the VCC website at www.vcc.columbia.edu. For queries please contact Karl P. Sauvant (tel. +1-212-854-0689; karlsauvant@gmail.com) or Joerg Simon (tel. +49-711-604294; jks2149@columbia.edu).

Dr. Karl P. Sauvant participated in the 5th International Investment Promotion Forum, co-sponsored by the Ministry of Commerce of the People's Republic of China (MOFCOM), China Council for International Investment Promotion (CCIIP) and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), in Shanghai, China, on October 20, 2008.

The Conference was organized by the Vale Columbia Center on Sustainable International Investment; The Center on Global Legal Problems (Columbia Law School); NCCR/World Trade Institute Bern (University of Fribourg); Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft LLP; in cooperation with the Center for Transnationals' Studies (Nankai University); and with the support of Mark and Gail Appel.

The process of global economic integration has accelerated during the past three decades, with world foreign direct investment (FDI) flows rising from $40-50 billion at the beginning of the 1980s to $1.8 trillion in 2007. Yet, in spite of the trend towards market liberalization and privatization during this period, the role of the state has arguably become more important in recent years. Indeed, many of the emerging market state-owned enterprises (SOEs) that survived the earlier waves of privatization are now flourishing, thanks in particular to booming global commodity prices and increased export earnings. Emerging market governments are also drawing on their accumulating exchange reserves to establish sovereign wealth funds for investment abroad. These two developments have contributed to a substantial increase of outward FDI from emerging markets, reaching $300 billion in 2007 (six times world FDI flows during the early 1980s). For example,Chinese state-controlled entities are estimated to account for about four-fifths of the country's outward foreign direct investment.

In response to the rising importance of state-owned enterprises and sovereign wealth funds (SWFs)– collectively referred to here as “state-controlled entities” (SCEs) – policy-makers in a number of countries are re-thinking their own investment regulatory frameworks. The world has thus witnessed a resurgence of the role of the state vis-à-vis markets, with governments acting as both a source of – and potential impediment to – FDI.

The principal issues raised by this phenomenon were addressed systematically in a conference which took place October 1-2, 2008 at Columbia University – organized by the Vale Columbia Center on Sustainable International Investment, Columbia Law School’s Center on Global Legal Problems, Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP, the World Trade Institute, and the University of Fribourg (Switzerland), in cooperation with Nankai University (China), and with the support of Mark and Gail Appel. The Conference examined the role of state-controlled entities in the world FDI market, with a particular emphasis on the role of sovereign investment agencies (those parts of SWFs engaged in FDI), and explored the range of policy responses being considered to deal with this problématique.

The Conference program can be viewed here . If you wish to obtain more information on this event, please send an e-mail to lsachs1@law.columbia.edu.

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The Conference was organized by the Columbia Program on International Investment; Fudan University (China); Fundação Dom Cabral (Brazil); Indian School of Business; Moscow School of Management SKOLKOVO; and the United Nations Development Programme’s Special Unit for South-South Cooperation.

Between 2003 and 2006, emerging market outward foreign direct investment quadrupled to reach $210 billion – a figure that is expected to grow in the coming years, as emerging market multinationals acquire foreign firms and establish new operations to boost their international competitiveness. The inaugural Five Diamond International Conference on “Thinking Outward: Global Players from Emerging Markets” convened more than 160 corporate executives, government officials and academic experts from 25 countries to examine this phenomenon at Columbia University.

Participants discussed the importance of a coherent policy framework for outward investment and the need for multinationals to manage the “social environment” by overcoming attitudinal barriers at home and deepening their social impact in the communities in which they operate. The event also featured remarks by Mr. Roger Agnelli, CEO of Vale, and a keynote address by Professor Jeffrey D. Sachs, Director of The Earth Institute at Columbia University, who outlined some of the challenges that emerging market economies face.

The next in the cycle of five global Conferences, to be held August 18-19, 2009 in Brazil, will explore a host of internal (firm-specific) and external (especially policy) issues identified during the inaugural event as priority areas requiring attention.

For further details on the Five Diamond International Conference Cycle, please contact VCC@columbia.edu.

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Co-organized by the Center on Global Legal Problems and the Columbia Program on International Investment

February 28th
Mark Kantor
Adjunct Professor, Georgetown University Law Center
Fellow, Columbia Program on International Investment
Damages

March 27th
Todd Weiler
Adjunct Professor, Washington College of Law
Editor of NAFTA Claims.com
Most Favored Nation: Has Practice Really Followed Theory?

April 3rd
Charles H. Brower, II
Jessie D. Puckett, Jr., Lecturer and Croft Associate Professor of International Law,

University of Mississippi School of Law
Investment Arbitration and the Public Interest

April 24th
Peter Muchlinski
Professor in International Commercial Law, University of London
Foreign Investment Regulation in an Uncertain World: The Issue of National Security

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Second Columbia International Investment Conference: “What's Next in International Investment Law and Policy? Improving the International Investment Law and Policy System”

The Conference was organized by the Columbia Program on International Investment; the Center on Global Legal Problems, Columbia Law School; the Integration and Trade Sector, Inter-American Development Bank (IADB); and the American Society of International Law (ASIL). It was also co-sponsored by Companhia Vale do Rio Doce.

Against the background of the growth of foreign direct investment, the proliferation of international investment agreements and the rise of investment disputes, the Second Columbia International Investment Conference identified some of the challenges that the international investment law and policy system is facing and discussed the way forward.

More specifically, the Conference examined the expectations of key stakeholders as regards the international investment law and policy system. It also looked at the implications of a rise of FDI protectionism and, related to that, addressed the question of whether there may be a need to recalibrate this system by looking, inter alia, at key investor protection standards; corporate social responsibility; home country measures; and the special role that developing countries can play in further developing and strengthening the current system.

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“Investor-State Dispute Settlement: Emerging Issues and Challenges for Latin American Countries and Investors”

The Conference was Organized by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), and the Columbia Program on International Investment (CPII), with the collaboration of the Organization of American States (OAS) and SETIC/Academia de Centroamérica.

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Co-organized by the Center on Global Legal Problems and the Columbia Program on International Investment

Jan Paulsson
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and Ibrahim Shihata Chair on International Investment Law, University of Dundee

February 13, 2007

W. Michael Reisman
Myres S. McDougal Professor of Law, Yale Law School

Foreign investment, national sovereignty and arbitration

March 6, 2007

Daniel M. Price
Partner, Sidley Austin LLP

Protection of foreign direct investment under bilateral investment treaties: a contribution to the international rule of law

March 27, 2007

Andrea K. Bjorklund
Acting Professor, University of California, Davis, School of Law

April 10, 2007

Tamara Lothian
Principal, International Strategies Group and Lecturer in Law, Columbia Law School

How foreign investment can harm economic growth and how law can come to the rescue

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International Conference on the Rise of Transnational Corporations from Emerging Markets: Threat or Opportunity?

Jeffrey D. Sachs, Lical Carvalho, and Karl P. Sauvant

A large group of academics, business leaders and students met at Columbia University on October 24-25, 2006 to discuss the implications of the rise of transnational corporations (TNCs) from emerging markets.

Providing the broader context for the event were two keynote speakers, Dr. Jeffrey D. Sachs and Prof. Joseph Stiglitz, who discussed stresses facing the world economy and governments due to the increasingly global nature of commerce and international investment.

Other panels in the Conference were led by academic experts who discussed the following issues:

Why do firms from emerging markets invest (or have to invest) abroad and what issues do they face when doing so? What are their transnational growth patterns and how has this growth differed from that of firms from developed countries some 30 years ago? How are emerging markets handling corporate governance and corporate social responsibility? How do the emerging home countries benefit from outward FDI and which policies should they pursue in terms of liberalizing their outward FDI policies in a manner that is beneficial to them and supports the international competitiveness of their firms? How will host countries reconcile the possibilities of tapping emerging market FDI with protectionist concerns? What are the implications for international rule-making?

Download the Conference Program ( >.pdf).

The papers of the Conference were published by Edward Elgar in a volume entitled The Rise Of Transnational Corporations From Emerging Markets: Threat or Opportunity? For more details on the publication, view the publications page.

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Symposium on Transparency and Consistency in International Investment Law: Is There a Need for a Review Mechanism?

What explains the growth of investment disputes? What are the principal issues to which this development gives rise? In particular, is there a problem of transparency and consistency in international investment law and, if so, how can it be addressed?

Papers presented at the symposium were published by Oxford University Press in a volume entitled Appeals Mechanism in International Investment Disputes. For more information on this volume and to download select chapters, please visit the publications page.