Legal aspects of investment facilitation of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization member states

Abstract

One of the main goals of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) is to implement economic and trade cooperation on the basis of equal partnership. Frequent events on economic and trade cooperation between the SCO member states not only contribute to the process of trade and investment facilitation, but also put forward higher requirements for the simplification of investment procedures in the economy and trade. The “Declaration on the Establishment of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization proposed to start negotiations on the simplification of investment procedures, the “Charter of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization” facilitated the process of simplifying investment procedures, and the signing of memoranda and protocols, etc. jointly contributed to the simplification of investment procedures in the form of soft laws. However, the main
content of the SCO investment facilitation is reflected in international soft law documents. The lack of simplification of procedures at the stage of access to investments and the inability of the existing mechanism for settlement of investment disputes to meet the needs of the SCO limit the development of economic and trade cooperation of the SCO. Therefore, it is recommended to draw lessons from the experience of facilitating simplification of procedures, according to which member States should review or  negotiate bilateral investment treaties, gradually introduce a model of a preliminary national regime plus a negative list, create a
mechanism for resolving SCO investment disputes and support the establishment of SCO economic and trade cooperation.