ISLAMABAD, May 11: Pakistan has signed the New York Convention under which arbitration decisions of the courts of foreign countries in terms of investment disputes would be implemented by the Pakistan courts.

Water and power secretary Ashfaq Mahmood told participants of the Pakistan Development Forum on Thursday that Pakistan had recently signed and ratified the New York Convention to provide comfort level to foreign investors in case of any dispute with a local company or government entity.

He later explained to Dawn that a court in the United States or the United Kingdom or for that matter by any member country of the convention, or by the International Commission for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) would have to settle investment disputes in accordance with Pakistani laws.

The decisions of the foreign courts made under the Pakistani law would be required to be executed by the respective courts in Pakistan. When asked if the Pakistani courts would also enjoy similar jurisdiction over their counterpart courts abroad, he said it would depend on how “we proceed”, but added a clear comment on the subject should come from the ministry of law or the attorney general of Pakistan.

He said the New York Convention had already been signed by about 75-78 countries. The western countries have repeatedly been asking the Pakistan government to include the clause of international arbitration under their respective laws and courts in bilateral investment treaties but have so far been resisted by the successive governments.

In the past, many foreign investors had got decisions in their favour from the courts of their respective countries but they could not be implemented because of lack of their jurisdiction in Pakistan.