Agreement on TRIMS under Marrakesh Treaty, the culmination of the Uruguay Round of Trade Negotiations was the first step towards considering a Multilateral Investment Agreement. The developed countries are keen to establish a multilateral investment regime similar to multilatera1 trade regime. The developed countries have already done this in their draft agreement prepared by the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) a largely developed countries grouping. They now would like MIA to be brought under WTO.
In fact in Singapore, WTO’s interministerial meeting (1995) considered this issue. India opposed it for she believes that FDI policy is primarily a national concern. Hence, it was proposed in the meeting that a study would be made on the subject and any decision to negotiate a multilateral investment agreement must have explicit consensus of all. The Multilateral Investment Agreement is to standardize various provisions and bring it under the control of a multilateral institution with an effective dispute settlement mechanism. The WTO is considered to be the most suitable organization which has an effective dispute settlement mechanism possessing cross retaliation. However, it will take considerable amount of time to finalize this agreement.
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