Development and drafting of the Pan-African Investment Code

At the center of several dynamics sometimes antagonistic the African continent is illustrated through the affirmation of two key objectives for its emancipation namely development and investment. While in theory these two objectives go hand in hand in practice they raise more complex legal issues. Indeed the draft Pan-African Investment Code is characterized by a number of considerable and unprecedented advances. The latter ratifies a legal definition of investment while integrating an exception (national development) to the standard of national treatment. On the other hand the requirement of the local share the consideration of development in state contracts and the contribution to the achievement of sustainable development are included in this preliminary draft. This is a unique legal instrument that raises the question of how the regime of legal protection of investments is tested by the objectives and requirements of development