Saturday, February 4, 2017

China-Africa Investment Treaties: Do They Work?

The UK's International Institute for Environment and Development published in 2016 a major study titled "China-Africa Investment Treaties: Do They Work?" by Lorenzo Cotula, Xiaoxue Weng, Qianru Ma, and Peng Ren.

The authors explain that China's bilateral investment treaties (BITs) in Africa tend to be narrowly focused and are signed with one African country at a time. The report explores the content of the China-Africa BITs and whether they achieve their stated goal of promoting foreign investment. Their preliminary finding is that the China-Africa BITs may not be fulfilling their stated goal of promoting foreign investment.