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Abstract
Despite the mounting criticism that globalization is encountering, the developed countries continue to lose no opportunity to change the rules of the global economy in their favour, regardless of the impact on developing countries and the poor. This book examines one of the most important instances of this: the rich countries' insistence that the WTO not only launch a new round of world trade negotiations, but that rules which were supposed to be confined to trade issues now be extended by means of new agreements protecting foreign direct investment. What is being proposed would be at the expense of the freedom of developing countries to determine their own policies towards foreign capital in tune with their development policy objectives.
The two authors of this book have an intimate knowledge of WTO negotiating processes. They explain in detail the North's relentless determination to give privileged protection to the overseas investments of its transnational corporations. These initiatives have included, inter alia, the OECD's failed MAI initiative, the World Bank-sponsored Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency, and the WTO's General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) and Agreement on Trade-related Investment Measures (TRIMS). The authors spell out their consequences for developing countries. They examine whether there is any real case for a new multilateral framework on investment within the WTO. And they propose various options for developing countries to resist what amounts to a new form of Western protectionism, including how a development dimension could be incorporated in any new agreement, should the member countries of the WTO decide to proceed with negotiations.
This book provides invaluable information and analysis for diplomats and trade negotiators, policy makers and scholars, as well as civil society activists concerned with the impact of TNC investments on development.
Professor Carlos M Correa is Director of the University of Buenos Aires Masters Programme on Science and Technology Policy and Management. He has also been a Visiting Professor at various universities in Latin America, Spain and Italy. He is the author of several books and articles in international journals on issues of technology and intellectual property, including Intellectual Property Rights, the WTO and Developing Countries: The TRIPS Agreement and Policy Options (Zed 2000).
Professor Nagesh Kumar is Director General at the Research and Information System (RIS) for the Non-Aligned and Other Developing Countries, New Delhi. He has written extensively on the developmental impact of MNEs and FDI, industrial and technology development policies, WTO issues, new technologies for development and on regional economic co-operation, among other themes.
Table of Contents
Section Title | Page | Action | Price |
---|---|---|---|
Cover\r | Cover | ||
Contents | v | ||
Tables, figures and boxes | ix | ||
Abbreviations | x | ||
Preface | xii | ||
1: Introduction | 1 | ||
The context and objectives | 1 | ||
The chapter layout | 3 | ||
Part one: FDI, development and national and international policy framework | 5 | ||
2: Foreign direct investment, host government policy and development | 7 | ||
Trends and patterns in FDI inflows and the North–South divide | 7 | ||
Developmental impact of FDI on the host economies: a selective review of the literature | 13 | ||
Role of government policy and performance requirements: experiences and evidence | 23 | ||
Concluding remarks | 27 | ||
3: Multilateral Agreements on Investments: a historical background | 29 | ||
Need for international intervention | 29 | ||
Types of international intervention | 30 | ||
Regulatory interventions | 31 | ||
Promotional interventions | 36 | ||
Concluding remarks | 42 | ||
Notes | 43 | ||
Appendix 1: Draft United Nations Code of Conduct on Transnational Corporations as of summer 1986 | 44 | ||
Preamble and objectives: Definitions and scope of application | 44 | ||
Activities of Transnational Corporations | 45 | ||
Treatment of Transnational Corporations | 55 | ||
Intergovernmental Co-operation | 58 | ||
Implementation of the Code of Conduct | 59 | ||
Appendix: Non-collaboration by transnational corporations with racist minority regimes in southern Africa | 62 | ||
Notes | 62 | ||
Appendix 2: Multilaterally agreed equitable principles and rules for the control of restrictive business practices | 64 | ||
Part IV – Section D: Principles and rules for enterprises, including transnational corporations | 64 | ||
Part two: The Agreement on Trade-Related Investment Measures and developing countries | 67 | ||
4: The Agreement on Trade-Related Investment Measures | 69 | ||
Negotiating TRIMs in the Uruguay Round | 69 | ||
Provisions of the TRIMs Agreement | 75 | ||
Concluding remarks | 79 | ||
Notes | 80 | ||
5: Implications of the TRIMs Agreement for developing countries and the way forward | 82 | ||
Interpretation and implementation of the TRIMs Agreement | 82 | ||
An assessment of the TRIMs Agreement | 91 | ||
Reviewing the TRIMs Agreement | 100 | ||
Notes | 104 | ||
Part three: Multilateral frameworks on investment: early attempts and relevance | 107 | ||
6: Attempts to evolve a Multilateral Treaty on Investment: the OECD’s MAI | 109 | ||
Main elements of the draft MAI | 109 | ||
Concluding remarks | 123 | ||
Notes | 124 | ||
7: A multilateral framework on investment in the WTO: is there a case for it? | 126 | ||
Conceptual relevance of a GATT-type framework | 127 | ||
FDI policy and the level of development | 129 | ||
MFI and the magnitude of FDI inflows | 131 | ||
Asymmetric approach of multilateral framework | 132 | ||
Existing bilateral and multilateral frameworks for investment protection and dispute settlement | 135 | ||
Is there a grand bargain for developing countries? | 135 | ||
Concluding remarks: is there a case for an MFI? | 136 | ||
Notes | 137 | ||
Part four: Options for developing countries | 139 | ||
8: From Doha to Cancun and beyond: options for developing countries | 141 | ||
Options for developing countries | 142 | ||
Incorporating a ‘development dimension’ in a possible MFI | 144 | ||
Concluding remarks | 161 | ||
Notes | 162 | ||
Bibliography | 165 | ||
Index | 172 |