Multilateral Agreement on Investment

Introduction:-Multilateral Agreement on Investment (MAI) was a draft agreement negotiated between members of the organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development(OECD) in 1995–1998. Its ostensible purpose was to develop multilateral rules that would ensure international investment was governed in a more systematic and uniform way between states. When its draft became public in 1997, it drew widespread criticism from civil society groups and developing countries, particularly over the possibility that the agreement would make it difficult to regulate foreign investors. After an intense global campaign was waged against the MAI by the treaty's critics, the host nation France announced in October 1998 that it would not support the agreement, effectively preventing its adoption due to the OECD’s consensus procedures
Purposes and provisions
While authorizing the negotiations, the OECD Ministerial Council aimed to reach a "broad multilateral framework for international investment with high standards for the liberalization of investment regimes and investment protection and with effective dispute-settlement procedures". The aim was to create more consistent, secure and stable investment conditions and to regulate investment in a more uniform, transparent and enforceable manner. Although the agreement was to be negotiated between the member states, the intention was to have an open-agreement which non-OECD members could accede on a negotiated basis.
One of the main purposes of the agreement was to eliminate the "patchwork" of investment rules enshrined in the then-1300+ bilateral investment treaties. Contrary to many critics, the MAI would help prevent "races to the bottom" that would undermine high standards of Canadian regulation. More specifically, the agreement would:
• Minimise the diverse state regulations in governing the conditions under which investments by foreign corporations could take place.
• Enable compensation to corporations for proven unfair or discriminatory investment conditions causing loss of profit.
• Allow states and corporations recourse to international arbitration to settle any disputes arising under the agreement, instead of national courts in the host state.

Conclusion
The MAI is aimed at setting up an international regime for protection and advancement of international investors' rights. But correspondingly the rights and authority of the host country's government will be either removed or severely restricted.
Moreover, the MAI would impose no obligations on the foreign investor to respect the sovereignty or social and development objectives of the host country. But the host country's government would have many new and heavy obligations towards the foreign investor.
The approach taken by MAI proponents is new in that it is an extreme approach as it covers and greatly expands the rights of international investors, whilst not recognising and thus greatly reducing the authority and rights of host governments and countries