This IIA Issues Note highlights the increasing dichotomy between new and old international investment agreements (IIAs).

IIAs signed in 2023 cover new investment governance issues such as facilitation and cooperation. Yet old-generation treaties persist raising the risk of investor-State disputes and rendering IIA reform more urgent.

Old-generation IIAs cover about half of global foreign direct investment stock. This share is higher for developing and least developed economies, leading to greater exposure to investor-State disputes for them.

Investment facilitation plays an increasingly prominent role in IIAs, often encouraging digitalization. Yet, much more is needed to gear facilitation commitments in IIAs towards sustainable investment and to render them operational on the ground.

UN Trade and Development (UNCTAD) has developed a set of policy options that enable governments to leverage the facilitation commitments in their IIAs towards sustainable investment, with the support of strategic digitalization.

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