Argentina faces 65bn dollars in claims; plans to abandon international litigations court
Argentina faces 42 claims at the World Bank’s ICSID in which the plaintiffs are demanding compensations for almost 65 billion dollars, revealed Eduardo Barcesat legal advisor to the Argentine Treasury and one of several lawyers who has defended the country in those litigations.
Among the 42 claims are five in which the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes, ICSID, the arbitration tribunal from the World Bank has ruled against Argentina, but the country has not complied.
Argentina has not paid any of the compensations as dictated by ICSID said Barcesat who is also a professor at the University of Buenos Aires and participated in a forum in Quito relative to investment disputes organized by the Ecuadorian government.
Barcesat also said that the Argentine Lower House is considering the annulment of 59 bilateral investment treaties signed by the country, which have the World Bank’s ICSID as the arbitral tribunal for disputes between the State and multinationals.
Likewise Argentina is considering stepping down from ICSID said the lawyer who is also an advisor to the presidency of the Lower House.
The legal advisor said that the annulment process will most probably accelerate following the recent adverse decisions for Argentina in the US courts and which favour the bond hold outs that did not accept the two debt swaps of 2005 and 2010.
“The investment bilateral treaties under the umbrella of ICSID are absolutely null and void because they have entailed for Latinamerican countries dropping their legislative and jurisdictional sovereignty, which are contrary to the respective clauses in the Constitution”, argued Barcesat.
The lawyer accused the ICSID of ‘taking sides’ for the benefit of corporations and of appealing to procedures that are “grossly detrimental of the basic theory of Law”.
Barcesat said that in the future the disputes between multinational corporations and Argentina should be decided in Argentine courts or in a South American disputes arbitration court to be created, an initiative sponsored by the Ecuadorean government.
Among the ICSID rulings contrary to Argentina is the 300 million dollars compensation payment to the US companies Azurix Corp and Blue Ridge Investment for the cancelling of their public services contracts a decade ago.
Following on Argentina’s lack of payment last March the US government announced it was temporarily suspending Argentina from the benefits of the Generalized System of Preferences, GSP, which exempts tariffs to imports from developing countries.
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There are no 65 billion dollars, so the world gets NOTHING.
who found this number and from where ????????
not true ........
Argentina's “” short term “” external debts are ;
September/2012
Government .... 7,715 $millions.
BCRA ........ 3,000 $ millions.
Banks ..... 2,178 $ millions.
Other Sectors .... 27,090 $ millions
the rest is “”long term “” debt............
This is the beginning of the end.
who found this number and from where ????????“”“”
I suspect that he found the figure in an attempt to blow his own trumpet.... basing financial figures on reality has never been that good a career move for Argentinian economists, or government cronies....
know what I mean?
needs to go bankrupt once again and restart it's relationship with the rest of the planet. Just bring on the default and let's face reality, stop running around in circles.
The Economy runs by numbers not by gossips. !
Your problem is that not to able to think comprehensively...
the country has not paid....
Thats a song I've heard before.
So all 42 claims are entirely fictitious and if thats the case you probably don't think Argentina stole YPF a private company either......
You know what they say, what goes around, comes around.
my numbers are true ...
don't be lazy /slouchy...go & search & find the numbers....
So its not actually a debt until the claim have been proved and according to that article not all have been accepted by the ICSID. 42 claims and 5 been awarded against Argentina.
Isolationism, full steam ahead. Have you seen “Doomsday Preppers”?
It is a well known fact that the island is really the fabled “El Dorado” and if Argentina could manage to steal it they would be rich beyond the dreams of avarice. At a stroke all their problems would melt away and CFK would be beatified.
All this MUST be true or they would be spending more time on their economy.
Economist Arturo Porzecanski at American University in Washington told The Associated Press on Monday that he believes this could be the beginning of the end of the Fernandez government, as Argentina's deepening recession and financial turmoil lead to growing social unrest and to political crisis.
“The endgame is here and the Argentine authorities and bondholders who went into the exchange are just refusing to acknowledge this reality,” Porzecanski said. “If they don't put that money in the escrow account, chances are the Argentine economy and financial system will start grinding to a halt.”
On the other hand, if it does pay, Porzecanski agrees that Argentina will immediately face other creditors, who are likely to win as well in New York courts.
If the ruling is upheld, as expected, the Argentine government will need to pay out a total of nearly $5.5 billion in December alone.
according to analyst Ramiro Castineira with the Econometrica firm in Buenos Aires. The total debt unpaid since Argentina's 2001 economic collapse is about $11.2 billion, thats not counting hedge funds.
I told everyone here Argentina would begin withdrawing from ALL international organizations. About time with extricate ourselves from such corrupt, rotten, self-serving organizations whose only purpose upon being created was to promote as “soft-colonialism” by the north, post-WWII, to replace actual boots on the ground.
I think you know this ship is not just sinking but is 3/4's of the way under the water and you're just trolling now as a way of distracting attention.
Still I remain firm in the belief you're a good guy under all of this stuff.
I've always been isolationist, I said I didn't mind direct trade, but belonging to all these organizations leads to stuff like this. You as a Brit I would have thought to be more understanding than others... you people hate Europe, and you are now stuck with the EU (in your view), and their rules.
Same situations. Isolationism obviates any of this.
However trade bodies are beneficial when you play within the rules and we all live in a truly global economy with the exception of a few countries like North Korea and who wants to be like them?
So I do support a countries right to withdraw from international organizations and to determine its own future but clearly Argentina isn't doing it for those reasons, its doing it because it refuses to pay the monies it arguably owns.
Still I don't agree with Elliott and other funds that are deliberately bringing Argentina too its knees. I even go as far as subscribing to Argentina's terminology of calling them 'Vulture Funds'
It's just because the charity of the rest of the world this hasn't happened yet.
“The lawyer accused the ICSID of ‘taking sides’”, yeah right....if the decision was in argentinas favor would he still arrive at the same conclusion, I think not keep trying, I wonder if hes checked his bank for this weeks wages.
Come in Argentina, YOU NUMBER IS UP!!!
#18 Cristina is already beautiful =)
ARGENTINA ALWAYS THE VICTIM.
then say to A.Porzecanski...
Argentina has more than 20 $ billions at US investment portfolios....
Argentina has reserves to payback at all time in the future...
“ can not pay ” and “ hampering payback ” are not same things.
As a rule of thumb I reckon 1 year of CFK will need 10 years to recover from (under a sensible government) so soon we could be looking at a century of peace in the South Atlantic!
How can Argentina now say that they will not submit to the mutually agreed jurisdiction? No-one will take Argentina seriously in the future.
Nov 29th, 2012 - 04:20 pm
No one takes us seriously now!!!!!!!
At the least we have the advantage of changing our leader/political party - it might not always have the immediate affect that we would like - but at least we have the option for change.
aaaaaawwwwwwww!!! It's always nice being in the big boys clubs until you have to pay the bill isn't it?
Now be quiet, the adults are talking.
29 surfer
The final nail in the coffin for KFC??
And ppl are so concerned w Greece ovrr 7% (but just because they can become a breeding ground for wR and illness for Europe.
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