INDIA-LATVIA SIGNS BILATERAL INVESTMENT PROMOTION AND PROTEC

INDIA-LATVIA SIGNS BILATERAL INVESTMENT PROMOTION AND PROTECTION AGREEMENT

A Bilateral Investment Promotion & Protection Agreement (BIPA), between the Republic of India and Republic of Latvia, was signed here today, by Shri Anand Sharma, Union Minister of Commerce and Industry and Mr. Artis Kampars, Latvian Minister of Economics.

             The Agreement aims at enhancing Bilateral Investment and Technology flows between the two countries, by creating favourable conditions for investors.  These include: (i) a mutually acceptable definition of ‘investment’; (ii) national treatment to investments on a post-establishment basis; (iii) most favoured national treatment to investments and investors on a post-establishment basis; (iv) protection against expropriation, except for a public purpose and against payment of a fair & equitable compensation; and (v) full repatriability of investment and returns.

             The Agreement provides for an elaborate dispute resolution mechanism to settle   disputes relating to investments between an investor and the host Government. The dispute resolution mechanism includes recourse to negotiations, domestic dispute resolution mechanism and international arbitration.

             The Agreement shall remain in force for a period of ten years and thereafter, it shall be deemed to have been automatically extended, unless either country gives to the other country, a written notice of its intention to terminate the Agreement.

             It is hoped that the Agreement would serve as a catalyst in boosting investment flows between the two countries.