Through leadership on the world stage, Canada increases trade and investment opportunities and promotes transparency in dispute settlement
March 17, 2015 - Ottawa, Ontario - Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development Canada
The Honourable Ed Fast, Minister of International Trade, today announced that Canada has signed the United Nations Convention on Transparency in Treaty-based Investor-State Arbitration, also known as the Mauritius Convention on Transparency. Canada joins like-minded allies and trading partners, including Finland, France, Germany, Mauritius, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the United States, in signing the Convention and will move forward with ratification.
Canada is a world leader, with many of the country’s modern trade and investment agreements already containing provisions that require transparency in investor-state arbitration—which Canada continues to advocate for. Canada is among the first countries to sign the Convention and played a leading role in drafting both the Mauritius Convention and the Rules on Transparency in Treaty-based Investor-State Arbitration that preceded it.
Many of Canada’s foreign investment promotion and protection agreements (FIPAs) and free trade agreements (FTAs) concluded prior to 2006 lack the high level of transparency provisions Canada’s modern agreements contain. By adopting the Mauritius Convention, Canada is updating the outdated agreements and bringing them into the 21st century.
Currently, 12 of Canada’s FIPAs and five of Canada’s FTAs, which have been concluded and signed since 2006, already include the highest of standards in modern transparency. Additionally, the transparency provisions in the recently concluded historic Canada-European Union trade agreement already exceed those found in the Mauritius Convention.
Under Canada’s Global Markets Action Plan (GMAP), the Harper government continues to use economic diplomacy on the world stage to facilitate increased trade and investment opportunities, creating jobs and economic growth across Canada.
Max Moncaster
Press Secretary
Office of the Honourable Ed Fast
Minister of International Trade
343-203-7332
Media Relations Office
Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development Canada
343-203-7700
media@international.gc.ca
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