I. Introduction

'1. I am the Myres S. McDougal Professor of International Law at Yale Law School, where I have been on the faculty since 1965.I have published twenty books in my fíeld, five of which focus specifically on international arbitration and adjudication; a sixtlu which I edited, focuses on jurisdiction in international law. In addition to my teaching and scholarship, I serve as President of the Arbitrat Tribunal of the Bank for International Settlements. I have been a co-Editor-in-Chief of the Americøn Journal of Internøtional Law and served as Vice-President of the American Society of International Law. I have also been elected to the Institut de Droit Internøtional. I have served as an arbitrator in numerous international commercial, international investment, and public international arbitrations and as courìsel in other arbitrations, as well as in cases before the International Court of Justice ("rcJ'). A curriculum aitae setting forth a complete list of my professional activities and publications is appended to this opinion.

2. Greenberg Traurig, LLP, counsel for Railroad Development Corporation ("Clairnan(' or "RDC"), in the above referenced arbitration, has asked that I express an opinion on the merits of the substantive legal claims presented to the ICSID Tribunal which has been empanelled in the case. For this purpose, I have studied the pleadings, letters, and accompanying exhibits submitted by the parties to date. I assume, for the reasons set forth in the first section of this opiniory the truth of the factual allegations in the Claimant' Request for Arbitration ("Request") "insoÍar as they are not incredible, frivolous or vexatiolJst"l and none of them, in my judgment, can plausibly be so characterized. I also assume the Tribunal's familiarity with those factual allegations and will reiterate them only briefly here, in order to provide a basis for the discussion of the substantive issues of international law which I have been asked to address.