On 1 September 2021 Angola took a further step towards promoting foreign investment in the Country with the approval, by the National Assembly (through Resolution No. 63/21, of 1 September 2021), of Angola’s accession to the ICSID Convention, also known as the Washington Convention.

The ICSID Convention resulted from an initiative of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (World Bank) to promote foreign investment at a global scale, by creating conditions for the disputes between States and investors – and connected with such foreign investment – to be finally settled in a neutral and impartial forum. The ICSID Convention entered into force on 14 October 1966. At present, it has been ratified by 156 countries which became Contracting States of the Convention.  

The Convention foresees two mechanisms for the settlement of the relevant foreign investment disputes – Conciliation and Arbitration – and sets forth the basic rules applicable to such mechanisms, including in matters such as the replacement and disqualification of conciliators and arbitrators, the costs of proceedings, and the place of proceedings. Subsequently to the entry into force of the Convention, specific rules of procedure for both the conciliation and the arbitration proceedings have been approved – the Conciliation Rules and the Arbitration Rules – which, except as otherwise agreed by the parties, shall apply to the proceedings instituted under the Convention, thereby conferring a higher degree of certainty as regards those proceedings.

The ICSID Convention also created and established the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) and approved the rules related with its organization and functioning. This Centre is the institution that administers and monitors the procedures for resolution of disputes between States and investors falling within the scope of the Convention, aiming at preventing any violations to the Convention’s rules.

By adhering to the Convention, the Contracting States undertake to recognize an award rendered pursuant to the Convention as binding, and undertake to enforce the obligations imposed by that award within its territories as if it were a final judgment of a court in that State, which results in a reinforced guarantee for the investors.

However, the disputes related to foreign investments made in the territory of the Convention’s Contracting States are not automatically eligible for resolution under the Convention. There must be consent from the Contracting States as to jurisdiction of the ICSID Convention. This consent may be expressly provided for in agreements concluded between the foreign investor and the Contracting State, it may result from a provision of national law (granting foreign investors the right to resort to the ICSID Convention), or from the provisions of international treaties and conventions signed by the Contracting State, notably the so-called Bilateral Investment Treaties (BITs).

The implementation of the ICSID Convention in the Republic of Angola will now depend on the changes in the national law and on the instruments that will be concluded or ratified by the Country with its consent to the jurisdiction of ICSID (i.e. submission to the Convention and the Conciliation Rules and the Arbitration Rules, as applicable), which may occur by any of the means referred above.

The approval of the ICSID Convention for accession by Angola, along with its accession to the New York Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards, in 2017, confirm the efforts being made by the Angola towards being an attractive hub for foreign investment, with a view to stimulate the Country economic development.

The ICSID Convention shall enter into force in the Republic of Angola 30 days after the date of deposit of the instrument of ratification with the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development.

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