Over the years, Bilateral Investment Treaties (BITs) have emerged to provide foreign investors with increasing protection against the host states. The need for protection has resulted in the BITs being drafted with great detail. How to strike the balance, between details that make them easier for foreign investors to ascertain their rights and generalities that allow greater flexibility for the host country, has been found to be one of the most complicated matters in drafting a BIT. This paper examines the nature of BITs executed by Indonesia, focusing specially on the principal terms found in the majority of the BITs and the legal consequences of such treaties to the contracting parties; in particular between the needs of foreign investors’ protection and the host country’s development. In conclusion, even though elements of BITs have mostly been articulated in standard terms, independently negotiated agreements have led to a certain degree of divergences due to different bargaining positions and approaches.
Keywords: Bilateral Investment Treaty, Foreign Investor, Investment Protection, Host Country
About Me
- Gatot Soemartono
- I am a simple, but focused and hard-working person with a strong determination to realize my potentials. My thirst for knowledge inspired me to undertake further studies, which resulted in my earning five degrees from prominent institutions, including Diponegoro and Harvard. As teaching has always provided me with a great deal of satisfaction, I decided to pursue a career in the academia. Besides, I have been involved in various activities, and collaborated with some public bodies on important projects. Recently I received a doctorate in law at the National University of Singapore (NUS) Law Faculty, where I was awarded a Graduate Research Scholarship and the President's Graduate Fellowship. In the end, I believe that my academic training will stand me in good stead in relation to making a meaningful contribution to the development of my country in particular, and to the world.