Mount Kenya University, Parklands Law Campus emerged number 3 with Solomon Munyua emerged as the best male orator in the rounds during the preliminary rounds of the Inaugural Kenya National Round of the Foreign Direct Investment Arbitration Moot Court Competition.
The competition was held at Africa Nazarene University on the 16th-17th July, 2019. The competition revolved around the following thematic areas;
- Foreign Direct Investment its role in emerging Africa
- International investment treaties in relation to treaties entered into between developed states and third world states.
- Gender Development and Fairness
- FDI as driver of the GDP
“…competition was generally educative and the participants understood the emerging issues in international trade and the arbitral proceeding before the ICSID tribunal. In regards to the performance of the teams, there is need to increase the number of arbitrators to avoid cases where teams met the same arbitrators twice.’ Oliver Tsangari-MKU, Parklands Law School Students
Increasing international investment, the proliferation of international investment treaties, domestic legislation, and international investment contracts have contributed to the development of a new field of international law that defines obligations between host States and foreign investors and refers to internationalised procedures (e.g. ICSID) for resolving related disputes.
These disputes involve not only vast sums, but also a panoply of rights, duties, and shifting objectives at the juncture of national and international law and policy. The FDI Moot helps future lawyers attain a practical understanding of these issues.
The case and hearings offer a unique forum for academics and practitioners from around the world to discuss developments - and assess emerging talents. Initiated in 2006 by the Center for International Legal Studies (CILS), Suffolk, Pepperdine, DIS, King's College London and CILS established the FDI Moot as an ambitious new international competition focusing on investor-State disputes. CILS organises the FDI Moot with Christian Campbell (CILS) and Christopher Gibson (SULS) acting as directors. The Global venue rotates each year, and meanwhile there are Regionals for Asia-Pacific, South Asia and Africa.