Mapping investment provisions in regional trade agreements: towards an international investment regime?

As stated in the introduction to this volume, regional trade agreements (RTAs) have been essential not simply in connecting countries through increased trade and investment flows but also in terms of shaping and pushing forward the architecture for conducting international trade. This is certainly true in the area of investment, an area in which the multilateral regime is still rather rudimentary, and where incipient international disciplines have rather been forged de facto at the bilateral and regional level.