ABSTRACT
The international legal framework governing foreign investments consists of unique treaty mechanisms, vast networks of international investment agreements (IIAs)and the general rules of international law. These international instruments have been recognized in the MENA countries in recent decades. Although other international treaties interact with the above mentioned networks in important ways, IIAs are the primary public international law instruments governing the promotion and protection of foreign investment.IIA texts generally differ in many important respects, but most IIAs combine similar or identical treaty-based standards of promotion and protection for foreign investments. Protection through the investor-state arbitration mechanismexists as it allows foreign investors to enforce these standards on the MENA hosting states.The network of IIAs provides foreign investors with a powerful and dynamic method of international treaty enforcement. This is the real dynamics of international investment law. A comprehensive explanation of the substantive standards of treatment that MENA states grant to foreign investors and investment under IIAs are provided in the following chapters.1
