12 December 2024
13:00 - 16:00 hrs.
Online

The Path to Mainstreaming Sustainable Development in IIAs

Over the past decades, new and emerging issues such as environmental protection, climate change, labour rights, public health, and the encouragement of responsible and inclusive investment have started to be addressed in international investment agreements (IIAs). 

Sustainable development is taking centre stage in reform discussions. Yet much more is needed to mainstream sustainable development in the international investment regime. 

Doing so is essential to ensure that international investment governance aligns more widely with contemporary global priorities, providing the international framework to support sustainable and inclusive growth and development.

The path towards mainstreaming sustainable development is difficult to chart. New-generation IIAs are still vastly outnumbered by their unreformed counterparts. 

Almost nine out of ten IIAs in force were signed before 2012 – the year UN Trade and Development (UNCTAD) published its first edition of the Investment Policy Framework for Sustainable Development. The piecemeal approach of IIA reform, relying on bilateral renegotiations and amendments, is relatively slow. 

Against this backdrop, regionalism and mega-regional initiatives have emerged as important drivers for reform. 

New-generation (mega-)regional IIAs are starting to form building blocks towards widespread consensus on addressing the economic, social and environmental dimensions of investment governance.

What will take place?

The conference will include two panels with high-level IIA policymakers and experts

  • Session 1: Country perspectives on best practices and challenges in mainstreaming sustainable development in the IIA regime.
  • Session 2: Regional and international perspectives on best practices and challenges in mainstreaming sustainable development in the IIA regime.

Participation

The target audience for this conference is broad and inclusive, welcoming participation from all sectors and backgrounds. It is especially relevant for individuals working on IIAs. Key groups include government officials and investment policymakers, civil society organizations, private sector representatives, academics, researchers and students.

Registration

Registration is mandatory to receive the zoom link to join the event.

Logistics

After registration, participants will receive an automatic email that contains the zoom link, which provides access to the event. The conference takes place in English.

05 Dec 2024
 
Nan Li Collins
Director, Division on Investment and Enterprise
UN Trade and Development

Nan has over 25 years’ experience in strategic management roles both with the United Nations and the private sector across Asia, Africa, North America and Europe. She currently leads a global team in investment and sustainable finance research, policy, investment promotion and facilitation, enterprise development, and technical assistance to governments in over 160 countries. She chairs the Governing Board of the UN Sustainable Stock Exchanges Initiative, leads the World Investment Forum and the inter-governmental Working Group on International Standards of Accounting and Reporting.

Before joining UNCTAD, she served as the Global Director of Sustainable Investments and Innovation at UNOPS, where she led a team to promote infrastructure investments in many developing countries and co-invest with DFIs and private investors. She served as UNOPS focal point in the UN Inter-agency Task Force on Financing for Development.

Previously, she served as the Head of UNDP SDG Innovative Finance and as Head of South-South Cooperation and Investment at UNDP's Asia Pacific Center in Bangkok. She led a team to engage public and private investors and developed national policy dialogues and networks on SDG investment, piloted SDG-aligned funds, bonds and projects in multiple countries. She helped to position UNDP as a pioneer in the UN on sustainable investment and innovative finance. She also held positions as Policy Specialist in Capacity Development and Public-Private Partnerships in New York and Johannesburg since 2009, overseeing a regional portfolio in Eastern and Southern Africa.

Before joining UNDP, she spent about 10 years in the private sector in China and the USA, covering market entry and investment strategy, merger and acquisition, business development and sustainability. She holds a master’s degree in business administration from Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, and participated in the Executive Leadership program at IESE, and Finance Executive program at Tsinghua University.

Hamed El Kady
Senior Coordinator, International Investment Agreement Section
UN Trade and Development
Makane Mbengue
Professor of International Law, Director of the Department of International Law and International Organization
University of Geneva
Narda Garcia
Chief Executive Officer
Office of the Prime Minister, Investment & Civil Aviation, Belize
Samira Sulejmanovic
Head of Department for Bilateral Trade Relations
Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Relations, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Radwa I. Kamouna
Undersecretary of State, Head of International Relations Department Promotion Sector
General Authority for Investment and Free Zones (GAFI), Arab Republic of Egypt
Felix Imhof
Deputy Head, International Investment and Multinational Enterprises Division
State Secretariat for Economic Affairs, Swiss Confederation
Hasan Alsan Akpinar
Head, Department of International Relations, DG of Incentives and Foreign Investment
Ministry of Industry and Technology, Republic of Türkiye
Lisa Sachs
Director, Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment (CCSI)
Columbia University

Lisa Sachs is the Director of the Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment (CCSI), a joint Center of Columbia Climate School and Columbia Law School. Since joining CCSI in 2008, she established and oversees CCSI’s interdisciplinary research and advisory work on the alignment of investment law, practice, and policy with the Sustainable Development Goals. She is a globally recognized expert in the ways that laws, policies and business practices shape global investment flows and affect sustainable development. She works with governments around the world, regional and international development organizations, financial institutions, companies, civil society organizations and academic centers to understand the inter-relations of investment flows and sustainable development, and to influence investment policies and practices to promote the SDGs and the Paris Agreement. She received a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from Harvard University, a Master’s degree in International Affairs from Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs, and a Juris Doctor degree from Columbia Law School, where she was a James Kent Scholar and recipient of the Parker School Certificate in International and Comparative Law. 

Mohamed Kadah
Assistant Secretary General (Programmes)
Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA)
Jorge Vitorino
Head, Investment and Intellectual Property Unit
European Commission
Githa Roelans
Head, Multinational Enterprises and Enterprise Engagement Unit
International Labour Organization

Githa Roelans leads the ILO's policy and technical assistance to governments, employers and workers in ILO member States across the world. She specializes on the application of the Tripartite Declaration of Principles concerning Multinational Enterprises and Social Policy (MNE Declaration) - the ILO's leading instrument on responsible business conduct. The unit plays a central role in ILO's engagement with enterprises and workers on responsible labour practices including in supply chains.

Githa Roelans joined the ILO in 2007 where she held positions in the Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour and the Bureau for Gender Equality before taking up her current post in the Sustainable Enterprises department.

Previously she worked in the UNIDO Beijing Office (China) and held senior advisory positions in global consultancies in Brussels (Belgium). She is a Belgian national and graduate of the University of Leuven (KULeuven and UCL), where she subsequently held research and management posts.

Ana Novik
Head, Investment Division
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)

Ana Novik leads the Investment Division. In her role, Ms. Novik establishes strategies for the OECD to secure a leadership role in the international investment debate and to advance a more structured economic analysis of investment flows and impact.

She also contributes to OECD-wide initiatives, including horizontal workstreams on mobilising investment to SDG and climate change, global value chains and OECD contributions to the G20.

Before joining the OECD in 2014, Ms. Novik was Ambassador Director of Multilateral Economic Affairs in the Economics Directorate of Chile’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade. During this period, she represented Chile in international organisations, such as WTO, OECD and as a Senior Official (SOM) in APEC, and acted as the country’s G20 Sherpa during the year 2012. She also headed and supervised negotiations on behalf of Chile in the investment and services areas, with China, Australia, TPP, Pacific Alliance and MERCOSUR, among others, and participated in Chile’s accession to OECD, particularly in the areas of investment and trade.

Ms. Novik, a Chilean national, holds a Major in Business and Administration from Universidad Catolica de Valparaiso, Chile and a Master’s in International Affairs, Economic and Political Development from Columbia University, United States.

Anna Joubin-Bret
Secretary
United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL)

Ms. Anna Joubin-Bret is the Secretary of the United Nations Commission on International
Trade Law (UNCITRAL) and the Director of the International Trade Law Division in the 
United Nations Office of Legal Affairs, which functions as the substantive secretariat for
UNCITRAL. She is the ninth Secretary the Commission since it was established by the 
General Assembly in 1966. 
Prior to her appointment on 24 November 2017, Ms. Joubin-Bret practiced law in Paris,
specializing in International Investment Law and Investment Dispute Resolution. She 
focused on serving as counsel, arbitrator, mediator and conciliator in international 
investment disputes. She served as arbitrator in several ICSID, UNCITRAL and ICC 
disputes. Prior to 2011 and for 15 years, Ms. Joubin-Bret was the Senior Legal Adviser for 
the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). She edited and 
authored seminal research and publications on international investment law, notably the 
Sequels to UNCTAD IIA Series and co-edited with Jean Kalicki a book on Reform of 
Investor-State Dispute Settlement in 2015. 
Ms. Joubin-Bret holds a post-graduate degree (DEA) in Private International Law from the
University of Paris I, Panthéon-Sorbonne, a Master’s Degree in International Economic 
Law from University Paris I and in Political Science from Institut d'Etudes Politiques. She 
was Legal Counsel in the legal department of the Schneider Group, General Counsel of the 
KIS Group and Director-Export of Pomagalski S.A. She was appointed judge at the 
Commercial Court in Grenoble (France) and was elected Regional Counsellor of the 
Rhône-Alpes Region in 1998.

Surya Deva
UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Development

Language(s)
English  |    

Related

Topic

Investment

Programme

Contact

Mr. Hamed El-Kady
Senior Coordinator
International Investment Agreements
UN Trade and Development
[email protected]