Abstract

WILLS-VALDERRAMA, Santiago. PROTECTING FOREIGN INVESTMENT IN INFRASTRUCTURE THROUGH INTERNATIONAL INVESTMENT AGREEMENTS: A NEW CHALLENGE FOR COLOMBIA. Int. Law: Rev. Colomb. Derecho Int. [online]. 2011, n.19, pp.17-38. ISSN 1692-8156.

The construction and maintenance of infrastructure has been identified as one of the main tools for economic development in Colombia. This requires huge amounts of investment. Recent economic studies in developing countries, such as Colombia, have shown that great part of infrastructure projects are financed through investment coming from the private sector. Of this, more than half constitutes foreign direct investment. Colombia has recently adopted apolicy ofopenness towards foreign investment. Through International Investment Agreements, Colombia has committed to protect foreign investment following certain international obligations and standards. Great part of the foreign investment needed for the development of infrastructure in Colombia will fall under such investment agreements, and will thus be protected by the obligations agreed upon under said agreements. This paper seeks to describe how the actual obligations committed by Colombia are not always clear, and sometimes they introduce new concepts that are not well known in Colombian Law. This is the case, respectively, of the "fair and equitable treatment" and "indirect expropriation". Colombia should have caution in its governance offoreign investment, with a view of reducing the risk of being challenged under international arbitration that may result in multimillion disputes; even more in this era of financing projects through foreign direct investment.

Keywords : Investment in infrastructure; indirect expropriation; fair and equitable treatment; investment arbitration; infrastructure; public international law; Colombia; international protection.

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