USCIB Vice President for Investment Policy Shaun Donnelly was one of two private sector investment policy experts invited to join a September 10 U.S. government interagency team meeting with a delegation of economic policy experts from the African Union (AU) Commission staff.

According to Donnelly, the investment policy meeting, one of several meetings that day at the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR), focused on African-wide investment reforms and ongoing international investment negotiations, including in the UN Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) and the World Bank’s International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID).

Donnelly offered a U.S. private sector perspective on the importance of comprehensive, high-standard international investment agreements and especially of strong Investor-State Dispute Settlement (”ISDS”) enforcement provisions.

“We had an excellent, candid exchange on a range of important international and African investment issues with the team of AU Commission experts,” said Donnelly.  “I think we all benefited from the discussions. I certainly learned of some interesting AU-led investment initiatives across Africa and I appreciated the opportunity to explain why U.S. business strongly supports investment agreements and ISDS protections.”