Following is the text of joint statement issued by African and Indian civil society organizations on the upcoming 10th Ministerial Conference of the WTO, which will take place during December 15-18, 2015 in Nairobi, Kenya. The statement was released on the occasion of the Third India-Africa Forum Summit held in New Delhi on October 27, 2015.

We, on behalf of civil society in Africa and India, write to you, the Heads of Governments in Africa’s 54 countries and India as you meet for the Third India-Africa Forum Summit (IAFS-III) through 26-29^th October in New Delhi, India. As you all deliberate on a ‘reinvigorated partnership-shared vision’,…

India and EU would soon resume negotiations on the stalled India-EU free trade agreement. In a joint statement issued by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and German Chancellor Angela Merkel in New Delhi on Monday, both leaders expressed their “strong commitment to the EU-India Broad Based Trade and Investment Agreement and committed to bring about a resumption of the negotiations as soon as possible.” With political leadership now backing the proposed agreement, the trade negotiators will sit down at the table again to thrash out the remaining issues.

The joint statement was released just hours before the US, Japan and 10 other Pacific Rim nations reached…

The new model BIT lay outs detailed procedural rules on the appointment of arbitrators, conduct of arbitral proceedings, transparency, award, costs and related matters. For instance, an early review mechanism has been introduced to prevent frivolous claims based on weak grounds. Further, to ensure arbitrators are impartial and free of any conflict of interest, strict disclosure norms have been introduced under which arbitrators will have to disclose in writing their existing or past relationships with any of the parties. Similarly, all documents (except confidential information) related to investment dispute will be made available to public and the tribunals shall make logistical arrangements to facilitate…

India’s new model BIT contains binding obligations on investors concerning their conduct in the host state. The mandatory obligations on investors and home state were completely missing in the existing model as well as previously concluded BITs by India. This is a new approach adopted by India to address the balance of rights and responsibilities of investors because Indian BITs usually do not impose obligations on the part of foreign investors or the home state.

The new model states that the provisions on investors’ obligations have been introduced to ensure responsible business conduct by investors besides enhancing the contribution of investments to “inclusive growth and…

On Monday (August 3) when the Athens Stock Exchange reopened after a five-week shutdown, the share price index plunged by more than 23 percent in early trading. The banking index covering Greece’s biggest banks witnessed the largest decline, down to its 30 percent daily limit. This was the worst stock market bloodbath in decades despite an ongoing ban on short selling in Greek markets. Only in 1987, its share index collapsed by 15 percent in the wake of Wall Street stock market crash, popularly known as “Black Monday.”

The massive sell-off on Monday was partially triggered by the release of three surveys which revealed that…