ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia, December 2, 2015/APO (African Press Organization)/ —
The Continental Consultative meeting for the review of the Pan African Investment Code (PAIC) commenced in Kampala, Uganda attended Member States experts to discuss and adopt the draft Pan African Investment Code (PAIC)
In his opening statement, Mr. Djamel Ghrib, Head of Private Sector, Investment and Resource Mobilization Division at the African Union Commission (AUC), who represented the Commissioner for Economic Affairs African Union Commission, H.E. Dr. Anthony Maruping, stressed the fact that, the development of the PAIC is based on the idea that national, regional and continental dimensions have been taken into consideration in order to propose a conducive legal environment to increase the flow of investments in Africa and facilitate intra-African trade while promoting cross-border investment.
The development of the PAIC forms a part of a broader continental framework of the AU Agenda 2063, based on a coherent strategic framework for development whose foundation is the promotion of a more inclusive and sustainable growth, the engine of structural transformation on the continent.
In her welcoming remarks, Samalie Mukyala, Senior Investment Executive, Kampala, Uganda, welcomed all the experts from the AU Member States to this continental consultative meeting. He hoped that the review of the draft Pan African Investment Code will result to a refined document agreeable to all Member States that will be submitted to the Special Ministerial Technical Committee on Economy, Finance and Integration Matters.“As Uganda, we are very optimistic about PAIC recognizing the growing importance of trade and investments for the growth and development of the world economy and Africa in particular” she stressed. She reiterated that it is in the best interest of Member States to establish a mechanism for encouraging, promoting, facilitating and protecting investment between and among themselves as well as the world. “There have been initiatives towards development of model investment codes by Regional Economic Communities (RECs) and these are at various stages. The development of the PAIC is therefore a means of elaborating and building on those initiatives with the aim of developing a harmonized model investment code for Africa as a whole in line with the development vision of the African continent”, she stated.
Professor Makane Moise Mbengue, the lead Legal Consultant for the development of PAIC addressing the meeting stressed the fact that this is an historical moment in the entire world stressing that “our ministers were visionary when they launched this process for the development of PAIC two years ago”. “We are here to make history and to show that Africa can take the lead when it comes to the future of international law in general and of investment law in particular”, he noted.
According to Prof. Mbengue, three critical aspects were considered during the launching of the PAIC and these are:- the best practices in Africa, the best practices in the world, and taking into account current trends such as the ones recommended by UNCTAD.. He noted that the Code is not reinventing the wheel; saying that it is meant to ensure that we have a more predictable framework on the African continent and also enabling a more balanced approach between investment protection and the regulatory power of our continent.
About the Pan African Investment Code
The Commission of the African Union (AUC) was mandated during the third Conference of African Ministers in charge of Integration (COMAI III) held in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, on 22-23 May 2008, “to develop a comprehensive investment Code for Africa with a view to promoting private sector participation”. The AUC was also requested by the Ninth Meeting of AU-RECs-ECA-AfDB Coordination Committee, held on 25 January 2012, in Addis-Ababa, Ethiopia “to carry out a study with a view to establishing a Pan-African Investment Code
