October 28, 2022
15:00-16:30 (followed by reception)
In-person and virtual participation
ICSID, 1225 Connecticut Ave., N.W., Washington, D.C.

Register

In recent years, the investor-State dispute settlement (ISDS) system has reached a crossroads. States are entering, exiting, and reforming investment treaties at staggering rates. States are seeking greater control over theBook cover interpretation and application of their treaties, including through interpretive declarations and non-disputing party submissions. The Achmea decision and its progeny has required the network of bilateral investment treaties between EU Member States to be unraveled. Meanwhile, the challenges of State succession, territorial integrity, and the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict suggest that the next generation of investor-State disputes will grapple with even more challenging and novel legal questions. In the midst of such changes and developments, the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties (VCLT) – the ‘treaty on treaties’ – presents several interpretive and other tools that may provide discipline and clarity in these tumultuous times.

This program explores emerging themes at the intersection of the VCLT, international investment law, and ISDS in an interactive format. The program will draw upon ideas elaborated in the recently published book, The Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties in Investor-State Disputes: History, Evolution, and Future, edited by Esmé Shirlow & Kiran Nasir Gore (Wolters Kluwer, September 2022).

A reception will follow the book discussion.

Participants:

  • Meg Kinnear, Secretary-General, ICSID (Moderator)
  • Judge Charles N. Brower, Independent Arbitrator, Twenty Essex
  • Julien Fouret, Partner, International Arbitration and Public International Law Practice, Eversheds Sutherland
  • Kiran Nasir Gore, Professorial Lecturer in Law, The George Washington University Law School and Independent Counsel & Arbitrator, Law Offices of Kiran N Gore PLLC
  • Elizabeth Sheargold, Vice-Chancellor’s Postdoctoral Research Fellow, University of Wollongong 
  • Esmé Shirlow, Associate Professor, Australian National University 

Agenda:

15:00 -16:30: Main program

16:30 - 18:30: Reception