Puig Delivers Remarks on Foreign Investment Law at Silk Road Institute Conference

University of Arizona Law professor and director of the International Trade and Business Law program, Sergio Puig, spoke at a conference at the Silk Road Institute for International and Comparative Law at Xi'an Jiaotong University in China last month. The conference, titled “Multilateral Reform of Investor-State Dispute Resolution,” discussed the role of international investment dispute settlement as a mechanism to protect foreign investors and the reform processes for such mechanisms. 

Puig’s remarks addressed the evolving foreign investment regulation and the dispute settlement process in North America. 

“China has an opportunity to affect the changing system, especially in light of the increasing role of Chinese companies in the development of infrastructure for the Belt and Road Initiative, which will modernize the legendary Silk Road from China to Europe,” said Puig.  

He spoke to an audience that included leading policy makers and experts in the field of foreign investment law, including Meg Kinnear, secretary general of the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes, and Collin Brown, the architect of the Multilateral Investment Court. 

Puig’s remarks were based on two articles he published in the American Journal of International Law: “Imperfect Alternatives: Institutional Choice and the Reform of Investment Law” and “The United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement: A Glimpse into the Geoeconomic World Order.” 

Puig, who is an expert in international economic law and international arbitration, was also recently appointed to an International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes tribunal to hear a dispute between Mexico and a U.S. investor.