[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 36, Number 36 (Monday, September 11, 2000)]
[Page 2006]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Message to the Senate Transmitting the Lithuania-United States 
Investment Treaty With Documentation

September 5, 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 
Lithuania for the Encouragement and Reciprocal Protection of Investment, 
with Annex and Protocol, signed at Washington on January 14, 1998. 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 Lithuania was the third 
such treaty signed between the United States and a Baltic region 
country. The Treaty will protect U.S. investment and assist Lithuania 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 furthers the objectives of 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,
 September 5, 2000.