Oxstones Investment Club™A bilateral investment treaty (BIT) is an agreement establishing the terms and conditions for private investment by nationals and companies of one state in another state. This type of investment is called foreign direct investment (FDI). BITs are established through trade pacts. A nineteenth-century forerunner of the BIT is the friendship, commerce, and navigation treaty (FCN).
Most BITs grant investments made by an investor of one Contracting State in the territory of the other a number of guarantees, which typically include fair and equitable treatment, protection from expropriation, free transfer of means and full protection and security. The distinctive feature of many BITs is that they allow for an alternative dispute resolution mechanism, whereby an investor whose rights under the BIT have been violated could have recourse to international arbitration, often under the auspices of the ICSID (International Center for the Settlement of Investment Disputes), rather than suing the host State in its own courts.
The world’s first BIT was signed on November 25, 1959 between Pakistan and Germany. There are currently more than 2500 BITs in force, involving most countries in the world.[4] Influential capital exporting states[citation needed] usually negotiate BITs on the basis of their own “model” texts (such as the US model BIT)
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Tags: 2500 BITs, alternative dispute resolution mechanism, Bilateral investment treaty, BIT, FCN, FDI, foreign direct investment, global investments, ICSID, International Center for the Settlement of Investment Disputes, International Investments, investment, investment treaties, investment wisdom, recourse to international arbitration, trade agreements