Bolivia quits World Bank arbitration body

Bolivia has formally withdrawn from a World Bank body that mediates between foreign investors and governments, complaining that its rulings are biased, the country's ambassador to the United States said.
In an interview with Reuters, Ambassador Gustavo Guzman said Bolivia formally pulled out of the Washington-based International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes, or ICSID, last week.
"Bolivia has stopped being a part of the club," he said. "Bolivia understands the importance of arbitration tribunals, but has complained about this one in particular." The move to quit ICSID comes as at least one company, Telecom Italia, has threatened to take Bolivia to international arbitration over President Evo Morales' efforts to exert greater state control over the economy.
Morales, a leftist, nationalised the key energy industry last year and has vowed to carry out similar reforms in the mining, telecommunications and utilities sectors.
In April, Morales issued a decree ordering Telecom Italia to sell part or all of its 50 percent stake in its Bolivian subsidiary Entel to the state. The company last month sought international arbitration from ICSID to block the move. Morales has repeatedly complained ICSID favours multinational corporations in its rulings.
"What we're trying to do is find a new balance in the relationship between the state and investors that in our view, because of neoliberal economic policies, was totalled tilted in favour of foreign investors," Guzman said during the interview late on Monday.
Guzman said Bolivia's withdrawal from the World Bank body should not deter foreign companies from investing in Bolivia. He said the government is seeking to give investors legal assurances through other international tribunals and Bolivian courts.
The diplomat said ICSID arbitration cases tend to drag on for years and cost poor countries like Bolivia millions of dollars in legal fees. Guzman insisted the move to withdraw from ICSID was intended as a protest against the body, and not the World Bank, which recently extended the country a $15 million loan. "I don't think there is a contradiction. The ICSID has to change (but) we continue (to work) with the World Bank," he said.