 RESTRICTED  
  
INF/IFD/W/ 40 
17 November 2021  
(21-8703) Page: 1/1 
 Original: English  
 
WTO STRUCTURED DISCUSSIONS ON INVESTMENT  FACILITATION FOR DEVELOPMENT  
DRAFT JOINT MINISTERIAL STATEMENT ON   
INVESTMENT FACILITATION FOR DEVELOPMENT  
The following communication , dated 17 November 2021 , is being circulated to all WTO Members.  
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JOINT MINISTERIAL STATEMENT ON   
INVESTMENT FACILITATION FOR DEVELOPMENT  
We, the Ministers representing the following Members of the World Trade Organization (WTO):  
[all IFD participants + new signat ories]  
issue the following statement at the Twelfth WTO Ministerial Conference (MC12):  
1. Recognizing the crucial importance of international investment and trade as twin engines of 
economic growth, sustainable development and global resilience, especially in the context of 
recovery from the COVID -19 pandemic.  
2. Recalling and building on the Joint Ministerial Statements adopted in Buenos Aires in 2017 and 
Shanghai in 2019, we reaffirm our shared objective to facilitate foreign direct investment and,  
for this purpose, to conclude a multilateral Agreement on investment facilitation for development 
that will help WTO Members attract, expand and retain foreign direct investment flows and to 
achieve sustainable development goals.  
3. Reaffirm ing that facilit ating greater developing and least -developed Members' participation in 
global investment flows constitutes a core objective of the Agreement, we recognize  the 
importance to support developing and least -developed Members in implementing the Agreement 
by add ressing their identified needs through special and differential treatment, including 
technical assistance and capacity building . 
4. Commending the substantial progress made in the negotiations on investment facilitation for 
development since their formal laun ch in September 2020, we welcome the [draft Agreement – 
name to be confirmed] as contained in WTO document [document symbol], which reflects 
considerable convergence and identifies areas that need further discussion.  
5. We are of the view that this document has made significant and tangible progress including by 
developing the key elements identified in the preceding Joint Statements – such as improving 
the transparency of investment measures, streamlining and speeding -up administrative 
procedures, and enhanc ing international cooperation, information sharing, and the exchange of 
best practices . The discussions also address means of encouraging sustainable investment. The 
negotiations exclude market access, investment protection, and Investor -State Dispute 
Settlement, and clarify the relationship between the future Agreement and Members' investment 
commitments. Accordingly, we consider the [draft Agreement – name to be confirmed] as the 
basis for our ongoing negotiations, aiming to conclude the text negotiations  by the end of 2022.  
6. We reaffirm our determination to continue and further intensify our outreach efforts and 
encourage all WTO Members to join this Joint Ministerial Statement and participate in these 
Member -driven, open, transparent, and inclusive negot iations.  
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