The students of the course International Law and the Individual, together with Prof Fabián Raimondo (Course Coordinator), attended a lecture at the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) on 29 November, 2019. The students and Prof Raimondo were specially invited to attend the event by the speaker, Prof Nico Schrijver, who on the occasion presented the topic “The Rise of Sustainable Development in International Investment Law”. Prof Schrijver is Professor of International Law at Leiden University and Academic Director of the Grotius Center for International Law Studies.

Before the lecture officially started, Mr. Gerard Sanders, General Counsel of the AIIB, emphasized the importance of sustainable development for the development of AIIB. Professor Schrijver focused the presentation on three aspects of the topic: first, the meaning and inception of sustainable development in international law; second, the gradual incorporation of sustainable development in international law; and third, the obstacles, opportunities and solutions to sustainable development and responsible investment.

In the first part of the lecture, Prof Schrijver defined the meaning of sustainable development. Sustainable development mainly involves three branches of law and has seven aspects, such as sustainable use of natural resources, environmental protection, and intra-generational and inter-generational equity.

In the second part of the lecture, Prof Schrijver pointed out that many treaties have gradually integrated the various aspects of sustainable development. In his view, sustainable development in the economic field needs to achieve the goals of stimulating entrepreneurship, creativity and innovation, and creating job opportunities. This is the main connotation of responsible investment.

In the last part of the lecture, Prof Schrijver discussed certain issues arising from the incorporation of the notion of sustainable development in the field of international investment law. Among other interesting concepts, he maintained that sustainable development creates many opportunities in this area, such as the establishment of a world investment organization. He concluded the presentation by offering a variety of solutions to the existing problems.

Thanks to this lecture, the CESL students were able to realize that sustainable development reflects the common interests of mankind and should be one of the guiding principles of international investment law.

(Contribution by Yu Yunwen-CESL Double Master’s student in 2019)