Incorporating an investment facilitation agreement within the WTO : A policy response belying its relevance to the WTO and its majority developing\LDC members

The adoption of a multilateral agreement on investment facilitation for development under the WTO was proposed at the 2017 Ministerial Conference. This article debunks its relevance to the WTO and its majority developing/LDC Members. The WTO is in a crisis of unilateralism and protectionism, hamstringing its ability to regulate trade affairs. Relying on it for investment facilitation involving multi-tiered decision-making by several national authorities is a far-fetched idea. The peripheral policy approach to investment's developmental role has caused the perennial problem of asymmetric protection for corporate interest. Neither capital-exporting countries, with partisan pro-investment mindset, have the appetite to embrace any developmental role; nor can the capacity-constraint WTO deliver it. The prospective investment facilitation agreement's developmental role is no more than a platitude to appraise opponents. The promise by the WTGO of trade-induced prosperity for all remains elusive in many developing/LDC Members. A WTGO investment facilitation agreement will only accentuate inequality and poverty already created by lopsided trade incomes and the digital divide.