[feb] No Indian role in developing ECT in Colombo:

Question 1

context

Answer 1

Sri Lanka has denied selling, leasing out or coming into any sort of an agreement with a foreign country over the Eastern Container Terminal.

Question 2

what is ECT colombo?

Answer 2

The ECT is located some 3 km away from the China-backed international financial city, known popularly as “port city”, being built on reclaimed land on Colombo’s sea front.

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Question 3

Significance of the project?

Answer 3

• worth an estimated $500-$700 million
• More than two-thirds of trans-shipment at this port is tied to India, making it an important trade and connectivity link.

Question 4

Bilateral Investment Treaty?

Answer 4

• governs foreign investment between two countries.
• BITs empower individual foreign investors to directly sue the host state before an international tribunal if the investor believes that the host state has breached its treaty obligations. This is known as investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS).

Question 5

What is fair and equitable treatment (FET) provision?

Answer 5

• protection provided for foreign investment in almost all BITs
• provides that investments and returns of investors of each country shall, at all times, be accorded FET in the other country’s territory. An important component of the FET provision is that the host state should protect the legitimate expectations of foreign investors.

Question 6

India-Sri Lanka BIT?

Answer 6

• Signed 1997
• India unilaterally terminated it in 2017

-India will also not be able to make use of the survival clause of the BIT given that the agreement on developing the ECT at the Colombo port was signed only in 2019 much after the unilateral termination of India-SL BIT.
Survival clauses in BITs ensure that foreign investment continues to receive protection during the survival period even in cases of unilateral termination.

-Hence, the Indian investor will not be able to sue Sri Lanka before an ISDS tribunal, notwithstanding the merits of the case.

Question 7

Update 17 march?

Answer 7

Adani Ports to develop container terminal in Sri Lanka on a build, operate and transfer basis for a period of 35 years as a public-private partnership (PPP).