[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 29, Number 3 (Monday, January 25, 1993)]
[Page 71]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Message to the Senate Transmitting the Argentina-United States 
Investment Treaty

 January 19, 1993

To the Senate of the United States:

    With a view to receiving the advice and consent of the Senate to 
ratification, I transmit herewith the Treaty Between the United States 
of America and the Argentine Republic Concerning the Reciprocal 
Encouragement and Protection of Investment, with Protocol, signed at 
Washington on November 14, 1991; and an amendment to the Protocol 
effected by exchange of notes at Buenos Aires on August 24 and November 
6, 1992. I transmit also, for the information of the Senate, the report 
of the Department of State with respect to this treaty.
    This is the first bilateral investment treaty with a Latin American 
country to be transmitted to the Senate since the announcement of my 
Enterprise for the Americas Initiative in June 1990. The treaty is 
designed to protect U.S. investment and encourage private sector 
development in Argentina and to support the economic reforms taking 
place there. The treaty's standstill and roll-back of Argentina's trade-
distorting performance requirements are precedent-setting steps in 
opening markets for U.S. exports. In this regard, as well as in its 
approach to dispute settlement, the treaty will serve as a model for our 
negotiations with other South American countries.
    The treaty is fully consistent with U.S. policy toward international 
investment. A specific tenet, reflected in this treaty, is that U.S. 
investment abroad and foreign investment in the United States should 
receive fair, equitable, and nondiscriminatory treatment. Under this 
treaty, the Parties also agree to international law standards for 
expropriation and expropriation compensation; free transfers of funds 
associated with investments; and the option of the investor to resolve 
disputes with the host government through international arbitration.
    I recommend that the Senate consider this treaty as soon as 
possible, and give its advice and consent to ratification of the treaty, 
with protocol, as amended, at an early date.
                                                   George Bush
The White House,
January 19, 1993.

Note: This message was released by the Office of the Press Secretary on 
January 20.