Author: Damon Vis-Dunbar
Published: December 2020
Description:
Fordham Law School’s International Arbitration and Mediation Conference, held on November 22, 2019 at Fordham in New York City, featured a wide-ranging conversation between Donald Francis Donovan, Partner at Debevoise & Plimpton LLP, and Meg Kinnear, Secretary-General of the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID). Mr. Donovan and Ms. Kinnear discussed the process currently underway to amend ICSID’s procedural rules for resolving international investment disputes—as well as broader trends in the field of investor-State dispute settlement. This conversation—published below—has been edited slightly for clarity and length.
MR. DONOVAN:
I am enormously pleased to be here and to interview Meg Kinnear about recent changes in the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) rules. More broadly, I would like to get her take on ICSID’s recent activity and her thoughts for its even increased importance in the international dispute resolution universe.
I will use the cliché and say Meg needs no introduction. You will all know that she is Secretary-General of ICSID, and she is widely regarded as amongst the most important and influential people in international dispute resolution today.
We are going to start—to use the current parlance—with some “breaking news.” Meg has just had the third consultation with ICSID Member States on proposed amendments to the ICSID rules, so I thought we would start with a report on that consultation.
MS. KINNEAR:
Last week we had a five-day consultation with our member States. ICSID Member States each have one vote on the new rules, so at the end of the day, we need the approval of the member States to pass these amendments.
The consultation last week was our third, and was based on our third working paper on amendment to the ICSID rules. I may date myself, but the first working paper looked like a phone book, and this is now looking more like a sleek law school text. So, we are getting there.
*Transcript provided by Damon Vis-Dunbar, ICSID Communications and Public Affairs Officer