For decades, a commonly held belief among international investment lawyers has been that while bilateral investment treaties (BITs) may not necessarily be crucially important for foreign investment decisions, they have an important indirect effect: BITs lower the price and increase the availability of political risk insurance (PRI), thereby reducing the transaction costs of conducting foreign...Read more

Ana-Mita Betancourt, Director and General Counsel, Legal Affairs and Claims Group at the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA), sat down with Geraldine Mataka, managing member of robert wray PLLC, to discuss her career in international economic development and business, and why it’s such an exciting time to be a part of the MIGA team.Read more

Fair market value (FMV) seems, at least to investors, a reasonable basis for compensating investment losses caused by sovereigns, but the concept involves many issues and complexities. Here are some insights into international law and practice regarding FMV, and some thoughts about the possibility of FMV compensation under political risk insurance (PRI) policies. Read more

Reports of Overseas Private Investment Corporation Determinations is a forthcoming publication of Oxford University Press (www.oup.com/us/law), edited by three distinguished international legal experts: international arbitrator Mark Kantor; Michael Nolan, a partner at Milbank Tweed, Hadley & McCloy LLP and adjunct professor at Georgetown University Law Center; and Karl P. Sauvant, Executive Director of the Vale...Read more