| The historical segregation between international investment and trade laws is fading away largely due to the commencement of vertical FDI.In spite of its endeavors,WTO has remained unsuccessful to become a common platform for both.Regional agreements have stepped into this vacuum as an alternate and their economic viability shows that this trend will continue to grow.This convergence of international investment and trade laws has boosted the volume of both cross border investment and trade flows,however it enhanced the possibilities of already existing legal challenges e.g.parallel,intra-regime and inter-regime enforcement of remedies involving trade and investment laws.Despite the fact,FDI is an important source for economic and social development its legal regime generally and ISDS mechanism particularly facing severe criticism for being skewed in the favor of investors and creating chilling impact on host States’ regulatory autonomy.Efforts are being made both at national and international levels to address this issue;however these are largely premised on the context of segregated treatment of investment law.RTA’s with varying levels of commitment towards social and environmental issues along with augmented possibilities to impede regulatory autonomy portend new challenges.Consequently,this phenomenon may prospectively undermine the accomplishment of globally cherished goal of sustainable development.Therefore an integrated approach encompassing both substantive and enforcement aspects of investment law moreover compatible with international law regime is required. |
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