A global shift towards the reform of international investment agreements (IIAs) is clearly visible in the texts of treaties signed in the past decade. However, a large stock of over 2,000 old-generation IIAs with outdated designs and content are yet to be reformed.

Under the theme “Modernizing Investment Treaties to support the Sustainable Development Goals”, a conference jointly organized by UN Trade and Development (UNCTAD), the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) will explore practical avenues to accelerate the reform of investment treaties. The investment treaty conference will take place on 31 March 2025 in Paris and online.

Governments concluded most investment treaties in the 1990s and early 2000s with the aim of protecting foreign investment. Today’s priorities for countries and regions have evolved and converge around the need to effectively attract flows of sustainable investment, rebalance the content of investment treaties to safeguard policy space for the pursuit of legitimate public policy objectives, and reform the investor–State dispute settlement mechanism.

The joint conference will engage key stakeholders, including government policymakers, experts from international organizations, and representatives from civil society, business and academia. Over 800 participants have registered to participate, both in-person and online. The conference will be opened by Carmine Di Noia (Director for Financial and Enterprise Affairs, OECD), Nan Li Collins (Senior Director, Division on Investment and Enterprise, UNCTAD) and Anna Joubin-Bret (Secretary, UNCITRAL).

High-level panels featuring speakers across key stakeholder communities will foster discussions on critical reform issues:

• Modernizing 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

The conference aims to showcase synergies between various existing reform initiatives and advance governments’ reflections on the merits, opportunities and practical means to reform the large stock of old-generation investment treaties still in force.

Read the joint background note here (English - French)

Register online for this meeting

UNCTAD Resources:

• International Investment Agreements Reform Accelerator
• Mapping sustainable development and investment facilitation provisions in IIAs concluded by G20 Members and invited countries
• International investment agreements trends: the increasing dichotomy between new and old treaties
• Facts and figures on investor-State dispute settlement cases
• IIA Reform Toolbox for the energy transition