CONTEMPORARY EURASIA VIII (2) ContEurVIII2 | Page 10

CONTEMPORARY EURASIA VIII (2)
financing by including it inthe framework of BRI projects. 26 The
importance of direct access to the continental routes from China to
Europe, Armenia will solve one of the biggest obstacles that the economy
faces, which is a landlocked country with closed borders with Turkey and
Azerbaijan.
The BRI will involve investments of about $1.7 trillion in 2030, 27
which presents Armenia with an opportunity to renovate and build its
infrastructure, connecting it to the road and railroad of the BRI, providing
a long-term trade and investment opportunity with 80 BRI countries.
Armenia can be considered as a favorable jurisdiction to BRI countries
since it, first of all, provides a window to the Eurasian Economic Union,
where Armenian goods can be transported tax-free. Additionally,
Armenia recently signed an economic association agreement with the EU,
which allows favorable conditions for trade in services. Thus, Armenia
can also become an attractive destination for greenfield investments for
Chinese enterprises.
In this context, the international investment agreements signed
between Armenia and China will govern the relationship between the
Chinese investors and government of Armenia, and thus in the next
sections we will provide an analysis of the treatment standards in the
Armenia-China investment treaty.
The Importance of International Investment Treaties: Armenia –
China BIT
According to the World Investment Report, the global flow of FDI
has reached $1.75 trillion in 2016 and is projected to reach $1.85 trillion
in 2018, representing a massive financial flow between countries.
However, this flow of cross-country finance is a relatively recent
occurrence.
In Post-World War II times, the world was considerably
segregated, there were certain country blocks that were trading and
investing between themselves, and a truly global economic order was not
yet established. One of the major roadblocks for such a development was
based on the fact that investors were hesitant to invest their capital

26
"China Interested in Iran-Armenia Rail Project," Financial Tribune, March 6, 2018,
https://financialtribune.com/articles/economy-business-and-markets/83024/china-
interested-in-iran-armenia-rail-project.
27 See e.g., “Assessing Asia’s Infrastructure Investment Needs”, Asia Development Blog,
February 28, 2017, https://blogs.adb.org/blog/assessing-asia-s-infrastructure-investment-
needs.
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