The United Nations
Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) has
released in 2011 a set of “Principles on
Responsible Sovereign Lending and Borrowing”.
The purpose of these Principles is to fill in a
crucial gap in international sovereign financing
- the non-existence of a set of essential
principles, for all types of sovereign debt
contracting, that is globally agreed on. The
Principles are conceptualized in a holistic way
and are thus meant to be applied to sovereign
borrowers, developed or developing countries
alike, as well as their lenders.
In the context of the Campus of Excellence
status awarded to the UAM-CSIC, UNCTAD and the
University Autónoma of Madrid (UAM), through its
schools of Law and Economics, are organizing the
Conference "Responsible Sovereign Borrowing and
Lending: The Search for Common Principles”.
The Conference will open with an “ESIL Lecture”
by Prof. Dr. Armin von Bogdandy and be
structured in four Panels, each of them
specialized in one topic and focusing on the
foundations, implications and perspectives of
these Principles and the problems they are
designed to address. Some concluding remarks by
Prof. Robert Howse will close the Conference.
The causes and widespread negative effects of
the global financial and economic crisis
prompted UNCTAD to launch an initiative in 2009
to promote responsible sovereign lending and
borrowing practices. |
The purpose of UNCTAD's
initiative is to provide a forum for debate on
responsible practices and to develop a set of
commonly accepted principles and practices
relating to sovereign financing.
An expert group was established to contribute to
the process of drafting these Principles. The
group is composed of world renowned legal and
economic experts, private investors and NGOs.
Senior representatives from the IMF, the World
Bank and Paris Club participate as observers of
this group. After several formal meetings and
exchanges of ideas a
draft of the Principles on
“Responsible Sovereign Lending & Borrowing” emerged in May 2011. In November 2011 a second
draft was released at the context of the
UNCTAD's 8th Debt Management Conference..
Since sovereign lending and borrowing require an
interdisciplinary and pluralist approach, the
conference will encourage discussion among
scholars and experts from different disciplines
and backgrounds, focusing on economic, financial,
institutional and legal issues. The UNCTAD’s
initiative being novel in several ways, original
and innovative research is especially encouraged.
The conference will take place in the campus of
the UAM on 2 March 2012.
abstracts selected will be published in a
collective book, one edition in English and
another one in Spanish. |
