The participants of the Investment Law and Arbitration Lab learned first-hand about the intricacies of international multilateral negotiations
As part of the Investment Law and Arbitration Lab, Yulia Dragunova, Head of Section for Representation of the Russian Federation in International Trade Law Organizations, Legal Department of the Ministry of Economic Development of the Russian Federation, gave a lecture on multilateral negotiations of The United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) develops conventions, model laws, guidelines, and other instruments in the field of international trade. The main preparatory work is carried out within the framework of Working Groups. Working Group III has been dealing with investor-State dispute settlement (ISDS) reform in recent years. Working Group III (ISDS reform) and shared her observations.
Yulia spoke about the main stages of negotiations and shared practical observations of the delegation at each of these stages (agenda setting, preparatory work of the delegation, negotiations at the sessions of the Working Group, etc.). In this regard, she presented general strategies of negotiations, for example, building coalitions of states based on common interests, finding compromises between states or coalitions of states (including with the help of a third party), adopting different documents in one “package”, etc.
According to Yulia, in order to achieve practical results of multilateral efforts, the goal of negotiations is, first of all, to reach consensus between different positions of member states, with due regard for the national interests of the participants in the negotiation process.
Yulia also shared what questions to ask when analyzing negotiations. For example, it is worth asking what the delegation's position aims to achieve, what it is based on (circumstances, reasons, negotiating history), whether the position is one “of principle” or flexible.
There are other exciting events ahead for the Lab participants, some of which will be open to the public. Stay tuned for announcements on our website and social media.