Book Panel - International Investment Law and Investor-State Disputes in Central Asia: Emerging Issues

International Investment Law and Investor-State Disputes in Central Asia: Emerging Issues draws on the experiences of the five Central Asian States – Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan – to present a unique case study for the nexus between international investment law, investor-State dispute settlement (ISDS) cases, and their impacts on the development of future global trade and investment environments.

This book’s seventeen chapters, contributed by globally renowned practitioners and scholars, provide the first consolidated and systematic overview of all aspects of international investment law and investor-State disputes involving the Central Asian region, including focus on domestic investment law frameworks, investment treaties, substantive protections as provided by those treaties, and developments arising out of specific investment treaty arbitrations and resulting awards. In light of ongoing reform initiatives, it supports understanding of how regional experiences and trends may inform global discussions.

This book builds on the historic and ongoing strategic importance of Central Asia to international trade and international investment to elucidate key insights into needs and concerns that are unique to the region while also offering globally relevant analyses. It draws on the Central Asian experience to address, among other topics:

• Approaches to foreign direct investment and domestic investment legislation;
• Jurisdictional questions arising in investment treaty arbitration, such as the notion of ‘investor’ and the definition of ‘investment’;
• The interpretation of investment treaties and the role of international and domestic law; substantive and procedural rights of foreign investors, with a focus on guarantees against expropriation and most-favoured nation and fair and equitable treatment standards;
• Arbitral awards, as well as grounds and procedures for their enforcement and annulment; the state-of-play for allegations of corruption and fraud once a dispute has arisen;
• Emerging challenges and opportunities in light of ongoing reform initiatives.

Kiran Nasir Gore has fifteen years of expertise in public and private international law, foreign investment strategies, and international dispute resolution. Kiran is admitted to practice in New York and the District of Columbia. She acts as arbitrator and counsel, with experience advocating before US courts, ad hoc arbitration panels, commercial and investment tribunals, and investigative authorities. She draws on her professional experiences as an educator in The George Washington University Law School’s International and Comparative Law Program and New York University’s Global Study Center in Washington, DC.

Elijah Putilin is an independent arbitrator and counsel at Putilin Dispute Management (PDM). Mr Putilin regularly sits as a Sole-Arbitrator, Presiding Arbitrator, or co-arbitrator in cases administered by DIFC-LCIA, TRAC, ICAC (Kyrgyzstan) and ICAC (Uzbekistan) involving the application of civil, common, and international law.

His expertise spans a variety of industries, including oil & gas, banking & finance, construction, and agriculture. In addition to his arbitrator and counsel work, Mr Putilin lectures on international commercial and investment arbitration at the Tashkent State University of Law and is an Adjunct Professor of international dispute resolution and business law at leading universities in Central and South-East Asia. Mr Putilin is a member of the SCC Arbitrators’ Council, a member of the Supervisory Board of the ICAC (Kyrgyzstan) and an immediate-past member of the TIAC’s Court of Arbitration.

Evgeniya Rubinina is a partner at Enyo Law LLP, a leading London disputes-only firm. She specialises in international commercial and investment arbitration. She has acted as advocate in international commercial disputes under LCIA, ICC and SCC rules and has represented both investors and states in investment treaty cases. In addition to being admitted to practise in England & Wales as a solicitor-advocate, Evgeniya is admitted in New York and Russia.

Evgeniya joined Enyo Law after ten years at Freshfields in Paris and London. She has also worked for the World Bank Group’s International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes and the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague. Evgeniya holds degrees from the Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO-University) (bachelor and specialist), the University of Oxford (MJur and MPhil in Law) and Harvard Law School (LLM). She speaks English, French and Russian.

Lindsay Reimschussel is a Senior Associate at CMS Cameron McKenna Nabarro Olswang LLP. Lindsay has extensive experience in international arbitration, particularly in ISDS disputes involving the CIS region. Lindsay has represented investors and states in arbitrations under the ICSID, ICSID Additional Facility, and UNCITRAL Rules. She regularly advises potential claimants on the relative merits of their claims and has advised litigation funders on the relative merits of potential ISDS claims.