On October 18, 2023, the Friends of Multilateralism Group (FMG) organized an online brainstorming session to discuss about the Investment Facilitation for Development (IFD) and its integration into the MTS. Petros Mavroidis, FMG member and Professor of Columbia Law School moderated this session.
At the meeting, Hamid Mamdouh, FMG member and former Director of Trade in Services and Investment Division of the WTO spoke at this session. Didier Chambovey, former Ambassador of Switzerland to WTO, and Xiankun Lu, CEO of FMG shared their comments. Then, the panelists answered the questions from the participants.
Nearly 50 participants joined the session, including members of FMG, Ambassadors/DPRs of WTO members, Directors of WTO divisions, representatives from related international organizations, and experts from renowned think tanks and universities etc.
On October 13，IFD participants agreed to pursue the plurilateral pathway to seek the incorporation of the IFD Agreement into the WTO rulebook under Annex 4 on Plurilateral Trade Agreements as established in Article X.9 of the WTO Agreement. Please see the link of this news on WTO website:
https://www.wto.org/english/news_e/news23_e/infac_13oct23_e.htm
Recording of this session can be watched via: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLXGiIhyJWE.
Annex 1: Programme
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14:00-14:02 |
Opening Remarks Speaker: Xiankun Lu (FMG) |
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14:02-14:05 |
Introduction Speaker: Petros C. Mavroidis (FMG) |
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14:05-14:36 |
Presentations Moderator: Petros C. Mavroidis (FMG) |
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14:05- 14:20 |
Speaker 1: Hamid Mamdouh (FMG) |
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14:20-14:28 |
Discussant 1: Ambassador Didier Chambovey |
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14:28- 14:36 |
Discussant 2: Xiankun Lu (FMG) |
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14:36- 15:30 |
Discussions Moderator: Petros C. Mavroidis (FMG) |
Annex 2: List of Confirmed Participants
FMG
Xiankun Lu (FMG)
Mercedes Araoz (FMG)
Clemens Boonekamp (FMG)
Henry Gao (FMG)
Stuart Harbinson (FMG)
Alejandra Jara (FMG)
Siqi Li (FMG)
Patrick Low (FMG)
Hamid Mamdouh (FMG)
Brad McDonald (FMG)
Petros C. MAVROIDIS (FMG)
Sherry Stephenson (FMG)
Peter Ungphakorn (FMG)
Alan Wolff (FMG)
WTO Missions
Austria, Brigitte LÜTH, Counsellor
Brazil: Eduado Kosmiskas, Counsellor
Canada: Nadia Theodore, Ambassador
Canada: Isabella Price, First Secretary
The Czech Republic: Martin Točík, DPR
The Czech Republic: Petr Fiala, Third Secretary
EU: Aguiar Machado, Ambassador
EU: Hene LEHT, Trade Officer
Hong Kong, China: Anna Wing Sum LEUNG, Trade Attaché
Korea: Jung Sung PARK, Ambassador
Mongolia: Dashnyam ENKHTAIVAN, DPR
Netherlands: Heine Lageveen, Policy Officer
Pakistan: Ali Hussain, Ambassador
Russian Federation: Dmitry LYAKISHEV, Ambassador
Spain: Antonio del Pino Rodríguez, Trade Counsellor
WTO Secretariat
Willy Alfaro, Director, Trade Policies Review Division
Werner Zdouc, Director, Knowledge and Information Management, Academic Outreach and WTO Chairs Programme
Gabrielle Marceau, Senior Counsellor for Research on Legal Policy, Economic Research and Statistics Division
International Organizations
Pierre Sauve, World Bank
Picard Valerie, ICC
Oliver Exton, IMF
Think Thanks
Hosuk Lee-Makiyama, ECIPE
Universities
Peter Van den Bossche, WTI
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