Originally from Investment Treaty Arbitration and International Law Volume 17

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I. INTRODUCTION

In an era marked by an unprecedented integration and relations between countries, promoting the facilitation of goods, services, capital, and knowledge has emerged as a central force driving the contemporary global economy. Globalization has fundamentally reshaped the landscape of international business and finance. 

Foreign investment, as the main driver of this trend, has become an extremely attractive asset for any country in the world. Whether it is a developed country seeking to obtain goods or services at better prices, or less developed countries looking for markets to expand their production and sales.

The investment boom in the last 30 years reflects the increasing openness of countries to global trade in the search for reciprocal benefits through agreements that project a better outlook in each of the sectors of goods and services, while providing a safe environment for the investment.

With this investment expansion, it became necessary to create binding legal systems that would establish not only the essential rules and criteria for investments between countries, but also the necessary mechanisms to resolve disputes between foreign investors and host states. This need led to a new era of negotiations between countries resulting in International Investment Agreements (IIAs) where the base standards for foreign investment were reflected.

II. INTERNATIONAL INVESTMENT AGREEMENTS

IIAs are international treaties resulting from the need for states to relate to and benefit from each other, mainly in social and economic matters through trade and investment.