Introduction

With Investor-State dispute settlement ("ISDS") reform very much in the public eye  global inter-governmental organizations, including the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law ("UNCITRAL"), the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes ("ICSID")/World Bank and the Energy Charter Conference ("ECC") have staked out a leadership position in promoting and encouraging the use of early and effective conflict management techniques, including mediation, to better manage the inevitable disputes that arise in the course of Investor-State ("IS") relations.

The Energy Charter Secretariat ("ECS"), in particular, has produced several valuable "how to" documents, making it easy for States to educate State representatives and benchmark their mediation efforts against accepted standards. Importantly, they also provide helpful advice regarding how best to organise the State's approach to conflict management, mediation and arbitration.

This article will focus on two conflict management and dispute resolution documents, the Energy Charter´s Model Instrument on Management of Investment Disputes Model (the "Model Instrument")  and the Energy Charter´s Guide on Investment Mediation (the "Guide on IM").

Better known as the motto of the international scouting movement, "be prepared" could serve as a call to action for States faced with the inevitable disputes which flow from international investment contracts. Too frequently, States faced with their first (or first series) of investment claims have lacked a fully integrated IS conflict management plan, with unfortunate consequences occasioned by information not gathered, communications not had and deadlines missed or ignored entirely.

Footnotes omitted from this introduction.