[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 36, Number 21 (Monday, May 29, 2000)]
[Page 1199]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Message to the Senate Transmitting the El Salvador-United States 
Bilateral Investment Treaty With Documentation

May 23, 2000

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 Government of 
the United States of America and the Government of the Republic of El 
Salvador Concerning the Encouragement and Reciprocal Protection of 
Investment, with Annex and Protocol, signed at San Salvador on March 10, 
1999. I transmit also, for the information of the Senate, the report of 
the Department of State with respect to this Treaty.
    The bilateral investment treaty (BIT) with El Salvador is the 
seventh such treaty with a Central or South American country. The Treaty 
will protect U.S. investment and assist El Salvador in its efforts to 
develop its economy by creating conditions more favorable for U.S. 
private investment and thereby strengthening the development of its 
private sector.
    The Treaty is fully consistent with U.S. policy toward international 
and domestic investment. A specific tenet of U.S. policy, reflected in 
this Treaty, is that U.S. investment abroad and foreign investment in 
the United States should receive national treatment. Under this Treaty, 
the Parties also agree to customary international law standards for 
expropriation. The Treaty includes detailed provisions regarding the 
computation and payment of prompt, adequate, and effective compensation 
for expropriation; free transfer of funds related to investments; 
freedom of investments from specified performance requirements; fair, 
equitable, and most-favored-nation treatment; and the investor's freedom 
to choose 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 
at an early date.
                                            William J. Clinton
 The White House,
 May 23, 2000.