Global and African perspectives on investment law and policy

Abstract
The seminar will present a global picture of trends in cross-border foreign direct investment before examining some of the issues currently being raised by emerging economies, including the retention of local policy space, concerns over interpretations of expropriation and approaches to resolving host-investor disputes through private arbitration. It will end with a short case study on a current investment dispute between South Africa and Zimbabwe.

Biography of the speaker
Laurence Boulle is currently Director of the Mandela Institute for Global Economic Law at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. He is also Professor of Law at Bond University, Queensland. He has practised and published in mediation and ADR for 20 years, his most recent publication being Mediator Skills and Techniques: Triangle of Influence (with M Nesic, Bloomsbury Professional, London, 2010). In recent years he has taught and published in international trade and investment law, including The Law of Globalisation (Kluwer Law International, The Netherlands, 2009.)  He is currently focusing on dispute resolution in the World Trade Organization and in cross-border investment disputes.