International investment law regionalism in Asia: the tale of South Asia

ABSTRACT International investment law regionalism in the ASEAN region has been a spectacular success. It presents what can be described as ‘third regionalism’. This has prompted scholars to present the ASEAN success model representing the whole of Asia. But there are multiple ‘Asias’. Large swathes of Asia have reluctantly pursued regionalism. One such region is South Asia, whose experience is very different from that of the ASEAN region. The South Asian region has failed in achieving any significant economic integration including investment integration. The most prominent South Asian institution and vehicle for regionalism, SAARC, which was meant to facilitate investment integration, has miserably failed. There are hopes from another institution, BIMSTEC, to deliver on this front, but that would depend on whether South Asian countries value regionalism or not. There is much that South Asia can learn from ASEAN’s experience and imbibe the ‘ASEAN Consensus’ that marks the wave of ‘third regionalism’ based on incrementalism and flexibility.