The CARO Center participated from April 1 to April 5 in the 48th session of Working Group III of UNCITRAL, held in New York at the United Nations.

Working Group III of UNCITRAL is focused on the reform of the investor-State dispute resolution framework. The working group consists of representatives from States who are working to redefine the legal framework governing mechanisms for disputes between investors and States, through the development of ethical charters, guidelines, and principles, the creation of new institutions, and the development of new international instruments that will be binding on all States that ratify them.

The CARO Center's participation is part of its ongoing activities in this field, following a training session held in Barbados at the end of November 2023 on this topic, which was attended by representatives from five Caribbean States, as well as from CARICOM and the Caribbean Development Bank.

This intersessional meeting provided participants the opportunity to advance on the following topics:

(i) Drafting the statutes of an Advisory Center for the resolution of disputes related to international investments. The purpose of this Center is to provide legal advice and assistance to developing countries and economies in transition, with its mission comparable to that of the WTO Advisory Center, which offers similar services for disputes in the World Trade Organization. The statutes of this Center were discussed by State representatives during previous sessions, with a focus on the financing of the Center.

https://documents.un.org/doc/undoc/gen/v24/008/08/pdf/v2400808.pdf?token=fp09OwdmKxR39yaasj&fe=true

(ii) Drafting a set of guidelines for the prevention and mitigation of disputes related to international investments, which will include examples of best practices to help States manage requests made by investors. It is worth noting that the new service proposed by the CARO Center, the "Conflict Management Committee," is mentioned in the draft guidelines at the request of Jamaica (made in January 2024):

https://uncitral.un.org/sites/uncitral.un.org/files/media-documents/uncitral/en/wp.235_rev_clean.pdf

(iii) Preparation of a draft statute for a permanent mechanism for the resolution of disputes related to international investments:

https://documents.un.org/doc/undoc/gen/v24/008/93/pdf/v2400893.pdf?token=k7WZtb81UeY5MeTF4b&fe=true

For a summary of the work of the 48th session: https://documents.un.org/doc/undoc/gen/v24/026/37/pdf/v2402637.pdf?token=572vqjZ1Dc6uLSd8PB&fe=true

For any questions regarding the CARO Center's participation in these discussions, please contact: secretariat@carohadac.org