A Study On The Multilateral Framework On Investment Of WTO

Accompanied by the deepening of economy globalization, a liberalized world market has come into being since the 90s, 20th century: trade barriers are eliminated gradually, the international finance market is in a process of deregulation, and the cross-border capital flows much more freely than before. However, a problem is put forward. And that is, while the World Trade Organization (WTO) is promoting worldwide trade liberalization and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) is making endeavors to accelerate the deregulation process of international finance market, a general international coordination mechanism on foreign direct investment (FDI) is be in absence. As a result, investors are encountering investment barriers, discrimination, uncertainty of rules and policies as well as various conflicts and disputes. All these not only have hampered the healthy growth of FDI, but also set obstacles to the trade liberalization both directly and indirectly. Therefore, it is imperative to establish a set of multilateral rules on FDI. WTO is considered as an ideal place to negotiate on those rules. This thesis has focused on the "investment" issue in the new round of multilateral trade negotiation of WTO and made a comprehensive study on the necessity and feasibility to build a multilateral framework on investment (MFI) in WTO. Also, the thesis has forecast the prospects of MFI and analyzed its potential impacts on China.The thesis is organized as follows:As the theoretic foundation of this thesis, Chapter 1 has mainly studied the relationship between international trade and FDI, as well as the economic impacts of relevant trade policies and investment policies, trying to clarify the necessity of the establishment of MFI theoretically.Chapter 2 focuses on the development of international investment agreements all over the world. Three typical international investment agreements at regional/multilateral level are chosen for study specifically. Relative analysis on the achievements anddrawbacks of these agreements is made in this chapter in order to facilitate the discussion about MFI in Chapter 3.Chapter 3 introduces the stipulation on investment in WTO agreements first, which have already gone into effect. Then the chapter turns to the issue on investment raised in negotiation of WTO and discusses the feasibility to set up a MFI in WTO on the basis of results gained by the Working Group on the Relationship between Trade and Investment. The discussion includes analyzing different points of view on MFI, which are either favorable or unfavorable, and standpoints of major WTO members. At the end of this chapter, a forecast is made on the prospects of MFI in WTO.Chapter 4 mainly discusses the impact that a possible MFI will have on China. In the light of a study on the current situation of China, this chapter investigates the potential influence of MFI both on China's utilization of foreign capital and on China's foreign investment activities. In addition, some suggestions have been made to the reference of policy-makers.