The Investments Protection Under the Bilateral Investment Treaty Between China and Morocco
Keywords:
Investments protection, Bilateral Investment Treaty (BIT) , Bilateral Investment Treaty (BIT) between China and Morocco, Expropriation, Disputes settlement mechanism, InvestmentSynopsis
A Bilateral Investment Treaty (BIT) is a legally binding investment agreement between two countries that establishes the right and obligation to facilitate investment into each others territories. For more than 50 years, Bilateral Investment Treaties (BITs) have given standard treatments to protect foreign investors and their investments. Since China is Morocco’s main source of foreign investment partner, the Moroccan government has taken steps to ensure that Chinese investors are better protected. Morocco, for its part, recognized that such a treaty would instill trust in Chinese investors encouraging more to invest in Morocco. With this mutuality of interests in mind the government of China and the government of Morocco signed a bilateral investment promotion and protection agreement in 27 March 1995, entered into force on 27 November 1999, this BIT has remained in effect and has not been amended or modified. However, foreign investors predicted that this issue of this old treaty would destabilize the investment climate between China and Morocco. On the other hand, bilateral investment treaties in recent years have witnessed an important development. Therefore, China and Morocco are in urgent need to renew this agreement in accordance with international investment agreements.
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