The Vice President of the Egyptian Investors' Federation and the President of the Egyptian Industrial zone of Ethiopia, Alaa Al-Saqti, announced that two Egyptian companies had contracted with Dr. Ezzat Youssef's firm of International Arbitration and Investment Cases, and authorized to take all the necessary legal actions against the Ethiopian government for violating the bilateral investment treaty on the protection and promotion of foreign investments with Egypt signed on 27 July 2006 and causing heavy losses to Egyptian factories.
Accordingly, it is emphasized that Egyptian investors in Ethiopia have evidenced and full legal rights and are fully protected by the above-mentioned BIT as well as by international arbitration institutions such as ICSID and similar international bodies formed by the international community to ensure investment and investor rights. The world outlook for the Ethiopian economy had been positive over the past years, and there had been a marked influx of foreign investment in Ethiopia. But politics and attempts to impose opinion and deal aggressively and violently in all sensitive Ethiopian cases over the past two years would have a negative impact on Ethiopia's economic parameters and outlook. However, the principle of the voluntary resolution of disputes is an inevitable consequence of the amicable dispute with the concerned State, which has also been submitted at earlier stages "pending a response to the request for amicable settlement" in our attempts to preserve money and time for the best interest of Both parties
The importance of the amicable settlement of disputes clearly lies in the fact that it is an effective mechanism for avoiding the occurrence of conflicts or future conflicts, including the maintenance of international peace and security and respect for the sovereignty of States.
The applicable framework according to public international law, with regard to compensation deadlines the information would be disclosed once a settlement had been reached between both parties.
But in the event of intransigence on the part of the Ethiopian State, the case will be filed within the time periods under the Agreement on Investment Protection signed between the two States, starting from the date on which the letter of amicable settlement was sent.
The amicable settlement period lies as a procedural period during which many actions and correspondence shall be taken between the parties and meetings to be arranged between a Commissioner of the Embassy concerned and our Office to determine as amicably as possible the different ways to resolve this dispute, to assess the losses, to determine the compensation due, the course of payment, and other formal and substantive procedures for the amicably settling of dispute in order to demonstrate the good faith of the States in reaching a viable solution and fulfilling their international obligation towards the investor and investments.
