The World Trade Organisation (WTO), founded in 1994, is an intergovernmental organisation that integrated the hitherto existing trade rules contained in the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), expanding them with other multilateral trade rules, while overseeing them to make them more enforceable through the establishment of a dispute settlement mechanism under the auspice of the WTO. Many of these agreements are important for international business.
On 25 November 2016, the Government of Flanders approved the new Flanders Trade and Investment Strategy.
It is a renewal of the Flemish trading strategy that dates from 2007. A lot has changed over the past nine years. The world economy, and consequently Flanders, found itself faced with a banking crisis, budget crises in various European Member States, slow economic recovery, a British referendum on the UK leaving the European Union and decelerated global growth. Separate from these negative elements, the past decade also saw major international agreements being concluded under the UN umbrella, such as the sustainable development goals and a climate agreement. The decisions above demand an adapted policy and are certain to produce effects in the future too, including in the areas of trade and investment.
On 9 February 2017 the Flanders Department of Foreign Affairs (Flanders DFA), together with the Flemish-European Liaison Agency (Vleva) organised a stakeholder consultation on arbitration in order to provide an informed debate on the topic in Flanders. The Investor-to-State Disputes Resolution between Investors and States was and remains a heavily debated topic. The Investment protection chapter ignited fierce discussions in light of the finalisation of the signature of CETA; the European Commission continues free trade negotiation (eg. Japan, Vietnam, Mexico, Australia); President Trump announced he no longer pursues the implementation of the Trans-Pacific Partnership and intends to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).
The debate panel brought together technical experts, such as Prof. Joost Pauwelyn of the Graduate Institute of Geneva University and Prof. Frank Hoffmeister of the Institute for European Studies of the Vrije Universiteit Brussel. In addition a forum was provided for civil society to express their opinions on the debated topic.
The report of the consultation and the powerpoints are only available in Dutch.