UN Trade and Development (UNCTAD) in cooperation with the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL), and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) is jointly organizing the 2025 Investment Treaty Conference:

• 31 March 2025
• 09:30 - 18:00 hrs.
• In-person (Paris, France) and online

Modernising investment treaties to support the Sustainable Development Goals

Under the theme “Modernising investment treaties to support the Sustainable Development Goals”, the conference will explore avenues for reforming investment treaties and fostering sustainable development in investment policymaking.

Investment treaties have been used for decades with the aim to encourage and protect foreign investment. While these objectives remain important today, new priorities have emerged: attracting sustainable investment, ensuring a balance between investment protection and policy space, and addressing concerns expressed about the existing ISDS regime such as the lack of consistency, predictability, and transparency of arbitral procedures. In response, treaty-making has undergone substantial change, with the emergence of newer designs that aim to preserve State Parties’ policy space and attract sustainable investment.

However, these changes do not address older treaties with outdated designs that remain in force. International organisations have contributed in different ways to reform efforts through collective action and cooperation. OECD, UNCITRAL and UNCTAD convene this conference to foster discussions among policymakers, stakeholders and experts, explore practical avenues to achieve a pragmatic transition of investment treaties, and accelerate IIA reform.

Programme

The conference will include high-level panels on the following issues:

• Modernising investment treaties: what would be benefits of reform?
• Reforming investment treaties: joint objectives, joint efforts, benefits for all
• A global shift in the design and content of investment treaties: overview of the main recent trends
• How to implement reforms? Practical avenues to achieve a pragmatic transition of investment treaties

Participation

The target audience for this conference are policymakers, legal experts, business representatives, representatives from civil society, and academics.

Registration

Registration through the OECD’s official conference page is mandatory. Please indicate the type of preferred attendance in your registration form. Requests to join the conference in-person will be subject to review. A question and answer function will be made available to online participants in order to contribute to the discussions.

Venue and logistics

Conference sessions will take place at the OECD Conference Centre in Paris (2, rue André-Pascal 75016 Paris). All sessions will be broadcast live online and will be available on replay after the conference.

For practical information, please see here.